Just do it [again]!

In Luke 10 we read the about the occasion in which Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan in response to one of the questions posed by the religious scholars. While they were trying to trick him the scholar in question could have asked him anything but in the heat of the moment his question was how can we please God (i.e. out of all the commandments which ones would please God the most if we followed them). Surely, if nothing else, this reveals an underlying desire in this man to please God; it was a battle that raged within him. Is this so different from us?

In the end Jesus concluded his illustration of how we are to respond to our ‘neighbours’ by saying, "Go and do likewise." (Luke 10:37 NIV)

Once more I have found these words to be tremendously powerful. God is not interested in you agreeing with Him; He wants you to do something. When faced with the option of doing something [no matter how little] for God our ‘inferiority complex’ kicks in: ‘I’m not good enough to do that, I’m going to have to pray about it.’
We are good enough because [incredibly] we have been made righteous through Christ (which is the only way because none are good except God!). In the end Jesus will never be happy if we listen and accept the truth encapsulated in the story of the Good Samaritan, and even tell others about it, if we do not actually do it ourselves. Our faith is living, anything living does stuff, therefore we should do stuff [in faith].

Unless we do as Jesus did nothing will ever change [not in our lives or the lives of those around us].
I do not want nothing to happen because I didn’t do anything, especially after Jesus asked me to. If you have read Jesus words above then he has just asked you too.

-Andrew Carey

GFC

There is always something catchy about three letters :o)
There’s the BBC of course, BFG in Roald Dahl books or KFC – not the fast food outlet but Kingdom Faith Church in Horsham :o)

Here’s another GFC: God, Family, Church.
This is God’s ranking of importance; God first, then family and then church. Any other order and our lives become imbalanced, if this happens we run the risk of burn out or growing ‘cold’. Paul used the GFC order in advising Timothy what to look for in potential church leaders, but it is equally applicable for all of us:
We must be “well-thought-of, committed to his wife [or husband], cool and collected, accessible, and hospitable. He must know what he's talking about, not be over fond of wine, not pushy but gentle, not thin-skinned, not money-hungry. He must handle his own affairs well, attentive to his own children and having their respect. For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God's church? ... Outsiders must think well of him, or else the Devil will figure out a way to lure him into his trap.” (1 Tim 3:2-7 MSG)

GFC may seem obvious and clear cut but the day to day running of our hectic lives make things a little less clear.
For example, if you put God first in your life, praying loads and studying His Word regularly, and spend every Sunday with the family, taking the kids here or there instead of church you are becoming imbalanced because God wants you rooted in a church; how can you be rooted to something you are not attached to?! In reality you have placed family over God by ignoring this! And when we put anything in front of God we grow ‘cold.
But even if you put God first never missing a Sunday meeting and are also at some church event almost every night of the week, chances are you are also ignoring God’s voice which is saying that you are abandoning the family He has entrusted to you. This is so much harder to spot because the imbalance is born out of a passion of following Christ, but slowly you become swept away by church rather than Christ and his gentle whispers of guidance become a distraction to serving in the church. Yes we should serve in the church but not at the expense of our families, but also our families should never be used as an excuse for laziness/apathy in the church; God always intended for the two to blend together beautifully – causing you great joy.

How the GFC structure looks in each of our lives will be entirely different; you life may look nothing like mine, and vice versa even though we may both be applying the GFC principle. Put God first in all things, faithfully care, nurture and love the family He has placed around you [this is your primary calling] and rejoice in serving the church in any way God has gifted you.
Paul’s GFC helps us to burn brightly [for Christ] rather than burning out.

-Andrew Carey

The Fog.

I recollect one occasion in my mid-teens when I had a bunch of friends over one night to watch a video (I have no idea now what the film was… can’t have been that good!). When it finished we stopped the video resulting in us suddenly watching the tail end of a movie called The Fog since it was on TV. This was a horror film about zombies that attack in the fog (I presume this was to save on the cost of time consuming special effects :o) I laugh now but at the time it was quite chilling. Anyway, we were transfixed as these zombies began to lay siege to a building clawing at the doors and windows. All of a sudden a hand thudded against the window behind us, producing as chilling squeal as it was dragged across the pain towards the front door. Naturally we screamed with [film induced] fright!
In the end it was just my younger brother returning home from somewhere – phew!

“We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” (1 Cor 13:12-13 MSG)

Fog is not pleasant when you are trying to get somewhere; it is disorientating and leaves you feeling vulnerable because you cannot see where it is you are going.
Ruth and I were once driving back [from somewhere ‘up north’ I think] with our pastor’s wife. It was in the early hours of the morning and we were exhausted. Coming back down the M50 we suddenly hit fog of the like I have never seen before. It was so thick that when a van recklessly overtook us [at 30mph], it had completely vanished, lights and all, just 10 feet ahead of us!

In life we encounter situations through which we have to navigate through a ‘fog’ of not understanding why it is happening [or why God is permitting it]. This is tough, disorientating and frustrating at times because we may never have answers for it; the ‘fog’ will remain until we are at home in Heaven. We don’t like this but we must accept it; in fact simply ‘accepting’ it is useless, we have to trust that God knows what is best and listen to his instructions.

-Andrew Carey

Encourage #4

I once heard a child excitedly asking her mum, and probably not for the first time either, if it was her birthday had finally arrived saying, “Is it tomorrow yet?” She clearly couldn’t wait [or understand that ‘tomorrow’ will never be ‘today’].
Well, it’s not Tomorrow; today is Today.

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.” (Heb 3:13 NIV)

There is a real need for us to encourage each other, because as we encourage each other we can defend one another against ‘sin’s deceitfulness’. Now, when I say ‘encourage’ I mean positively speaking God’s word into each other lives. Telling someone they look nice doesn’t encourage us, it only makes us big headed or vain.

We can encourage each other by saying what impact they have had on us and what God has developed in us through them. Or we can encourage them by noticing what they are doing for God and reminding them of the impact it has [because we don’t always notice this ourselves]. You will always know when you have been encouraged because you feel full of life and you know that what you are doing is not in vain!

Encourage someone today. Your word is enough to breathe life into a ministry or a situation which you may never find yourself in, but perhaps you are there to breathe the encouragement of God into it.

-Andrew Carey

Encourage #3

In work we have an electronic calendar system, it’s ‘great’. If I’m honest I have never totally mastered the system and its many nuances. One thing I know that it does is constantly remind you of impending events. Worse still, it will keep on reminding you right up to the very event itself; its relentless!

Even though I do find these reminders annoying (because they will invariable pop up on screen unnoticed while I am working on something else!) they are helpful; it won’t let me forget. The Apostle Paul knew the need and benefit of being reminded – it keeps you sharp and focused. Here Paul reminds us to encourage one another:
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thes 5:11 NIV)

Have you encouraged someone today?
You may have done so already because it was in the natural flow of conversation, or you may have done so because you set out with this in mind. Whatever the case keep it up; the encouragement you give is often the encouragement that God wants to pass on to someone – so don’t hold back God’s encouragement.

In fact knowing that you are reading this is an encouragement to me. I know that there are quite a few people who regularly read these blogs and this encourages me – I am picturing you right now :o) If it wasn’t for you I am not sure that I would be doing this now, and if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be benefiting from it as I do. Writing my thoughts down like this helps me solidify God’s voice in my life and makes me grow in my faith. You encourage me!

-Andrew Carey

Encourage #2

Sometime we find it hard to encourage ourselves; to stay motivated and focused on our goal [Christ]. Sometimes we don’t find ourselves surrounded by a chorus of encouragement from fellow believers (it’s not their fault; perhaps we have isolated ourselves a little or circumstance has done this). But we are not alone; we can still find encouragement through the Holy Spirit who is with us always!

After Saul [aka Paul] had met with Christ on the Damascus road, lost and regained his sight etc…
… the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. (Acts 9:31 NIV)

That excites me so much!
Sometimes when we are feeling down or discouraged we can really ‘wallow’ in it; it just seems hard to avoid sometimes. But how can we be discouraged when we have Christ with us [the hope of glory]?! It’s madness. Therefore we can be sure that discouragement Is not a place where God will leave us. This is why He left us His Holy Spirit. Not so that we can perform incredible miracles in Jesus’ name, or receive history changing prophetic words or anything else exciting like that – although we witness all of this through the Holy Spirit’s presence on our lives. He is in our lives primarily as our counsellor, comforter, and encourager! We are filled by the Holy Spirit so that he can encourage us and by this we will grow.

How do you know when you are responding to the encouragement of the Holy Spirit? When you take pleasure in serving God; not because it puts you head and shoulders above the rest of us Christians but because it is simply what is expected of you and it is great to do something/anything for God.

If Monday finds you down, know that the Holy Spirit is encouraging you right now. Do not shun him or ignore his whispers in your heart. His words are full of truth and he will draw your attention to the truth and the truth is you are God’s and his alone!
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (Jam 4:7-8 NIV)

-Andrew Carey

Encourage #1

I wonder whether you think that you are gifted or not?

The other week we went to spend the weekend with the English contingent of my family. Mum had prepared a room for us [of course] and on the chair she left a pile of stuff for me to decide what to do with. Included in this pile were all of my school reports! I was bemused as to why they had been kept since they weren’t that great, despite this I was fascinated by how it contradicted my memory. I always remember not being very good at art; I was never able to really achieve or express what I wanted to – very frustrating. However, according to my reports, the Art teacher thought that I was naturally talented and was able to express my ideas sensitively. She wrote the same thing year after year and yet I never remember any of this, I just remember thinking how untalented I was.

This made me realise that often we are so critical (or self-depreciating) that we fail to recognise our strengths. I mean you may forget how good a cook you are even though people love coming over to yours for a meal. Or you don’t think you are very funny, being as you are crap with jokes, but friends enjoy spending time with you because there will always be laughter and smiles.

There is now a whole band of people in Newport who are now writing for the Fusion Devotional books and many of them have told me how they were never very good at English. Despite this they eloquently share what God has done in their lives (I only have to edit them slightly/dramatically just to get the word count to fit the page but they are all amazing). Despite this none of these people will think of themselves as ‘writers’… but they are! Every one of them are published authors. They are also much more than this:
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is… encouraging, let him encourage.” (Rom 12:6,8 NIV)

Each of them, in their writing, have demonstrated a gift of encouraging – it just flows out of them. Think about it; when you read the last Fusion Devotional were you encouraged? I was; they encouraged and inspired me. My faith grew because of the words that flowed out of their heart, words overflowing from their [Heavenly] Father’s heart.

Is ‘encouragement’ one of your giftings?
You may not think so. Maybe you’ve never said anything to anyone, but even your faithfulness has probably encouraged someone. I know this guy who loves to serve in the church; he’s not great at it, and he sometimes frustrates me, but he loves to serve and that encourages me to serve more out of love and not talent!

If you have been encouraged, then encourage.
Tell someone how they have inspired, helped or encouraged you; don’t assume they know, because they don’t. Or perhaps write to them [a postcard will do, or even an e-mail] and let them know.

-Andrew Carey

Just do it!

In our Christian Fellowship in work we’ve been looking at the parables of Jesus. The other day we came to the story of the Good Samaritan… which of course you all know by heart :o)
Anyway, the thing that struck me was that it is clearly not enough to simply agree with Jesus, we have to do something about it – our faith is all about ‘doing’ not ‘agreeing’.

Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?"
He answered, "What's written in God's Law? How do you interpret it?"
He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbour as well as you do yourself."
"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."
Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define 'neighbour'?"…
The Jesus tells us the story about the Good Samaritan which you are undoubtedly familiar with, but if not click here.
"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbour to the man attacked by robbers?"
"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, "Go and do the same." (Luke 10:25-29,36-37 MSG)

Sometimes I really like the paraphrasing of The Message but on this occasion it lets me down. The Good Samaritan that Jesus described did not behave ‘kindly’ [what a wet term!] he behaved sacrificially. He took on the role of a paramedic, then a nurse and then he made sure that others had enough money to continue the care while he was away but then returned later; all this on his way to work [probably]! This is not being kind – this is above and beyond that!!!

Agreeing with Jesus, as this religious scholar did, does not breathe life into your faith; you can agree with everything Jesus says and still be dead.
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (Jam 2:19 NIV)

On the weekend I read a very amusing interview with the actor William H Macy (he’s a funny man), but one thing he said struck me as being very sad. He said that he deeply respected Jesus. He felt that everything Jesus said was intensely wise and he just wished that people would listen to him more (himself included). Despite this he did not trust or know Jesus as his saviour/redeemer. How sad to know so much and experience so little. Sadder still is the fact that he is not alone; you may well find many of his compatriots are in church pews each week.

The words of Jesus that really struck me the other day were these: "Go and do the same."
If only faith were about knowledge, then we could study hard and pass the test before teaching other willing pupils. But that’s not what Jesus wants – he wants followers who are doers! Our purpose is not to impress the ‘enlightened’ (although we should encourage one another – regularly) but to show people [who are sometimes too injured to notice or respond] the love of God through the way we treat and care for them. I don’t know about you but I don’t schedule this sort of thing into my daily routine and so this would have to be a sacrifice, but it is this that we are called to do. No questions asked.

“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (Jam 2:26 NIV)

-Andrew Carey

A New Hope.

I love Star Wars.
I was transfixed by the movies when I was young (I have theories about this – but another time, another place :o) and I would spend hours playing with my action figures with friends… needless to say you’d always befriend the kid with the Millennium Falcon or an AT-AT Walker.

When I was young [and foolish] my favourite of the 3 movies was Return of the Jedi. As I matured into my teenage years the bleak powerless struggle of The Empire Strikes Back began to appeal to me more. Now, however, in my thirties I would say that there is nothing to compare to the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope.

This was bouncing around in my head over the weekend because as Christians we do not have a new hope but a living one:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Pet 1:3 NIV)

Now the idea of a ‘living hope’ is weird – think about it. Hope is essentially something lifeless; it does not yet exist because it is something that you hope for. When I was a boy I would hope for certain Christmas presents, but this hope never made them exist; hope only became something tangible once I had received the gift and opened it. Up until that moment my hope was a lifeless idea (although it did excite me and keep me up at night).

This, however, does not describe our ‘living hope’. Our hope is not lifeless; it is life-giving because it is thoroughly infused with power through Christ’s resurrection! This hope we have [in Christ] is something tangible, real, and alive.

You are alive today because you have a living hope. Let this living hope overflow in your conversation, humour, and actions.

-Andrew Carey

Mouth-wateringly fresh bread.

Fresh bread is such a delight; just thinking about the taste and texture of it I am starting to salivate – I haven’t even thought about the pleasure of when it is still warm. Bread can do far more than just bring us pleasure though [I hope I am not totally alone in this regard… in fact if you have not experienced the pleasure of fresh bread head out to a bakers right now and get a fresh warm loaf – your life will change!] it can keep us alive. Well, that is only partially true; bread can only sustain us physically. Being alive physically does not make us totally alive – we are only truly alive when we have the breath of God within us.

Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth." (Matt 4:4 MSG)

Since the birth of my beautiful daughter my usual morning routine has been considerably disrupted; I still haven’t quite recovered yet. As a result I have found it hard to find those moments where I can get alone with God’s word, allowing it to feed me. There have been days that I have felt hungry for God; not a ‘hungry for more of God’ but ‘starving for His word.’ Snacks are good and pleasurable but nothing replaces a mealtime with God feasting upon His word. Just as within a family, sharing mealtimes nurtures relationships – the same is true with God and us.

My mother-in-law once saw a humorous [and true] pun on a church notice board:
“Not reading God’s Word every day makes one weak.”

Think about it :o)

-Andrew Carey

Who hammered the nails.

Are you still eating the chocolaty remains of Easter?
I am and it feels great and bad in equal measures… too much of a good thing is certainly bad; well, in the case of chocolate it is :o)

It is mad to think that last Friday was Good Friday. It seems so long ago. But even if that is the case let us never distance ourselves from the reality of that day. The week before Good Friday the people were welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem as a coming King. A week later their songs of praise had turned into cries of execution!
"Then what do I do with Jesus, the so-called Christ?"
They all shouted, "Nail him to a cross!"
He objected, "But for what crime?"
But they yelled all the louder, "Nail him to a cross!" (Matt 27:22-23 MSG)

On what day did their hearts turn?
Monday morning? Tuesday? Later on in the week after an unexpected bill arrived?
It was not time or Christ that turned their hearts, it was their own fickleness. What is more shocking than this is that even today it is still in our hearts to still betray Christ; on [Palm] Sunday they praised him but by [Good] Friday they wanted shot of him! Are we so different? Passionate on Sunday, but the closeness of God is distant when it comes to the rough and tumble of the play ground, the adrenalin of the skate park, the relentless pace of looking after a baby or the decisions made in the office.

I was reminded of this as I read a little poem the other day:
Let’s not be fickle followers
Who say they love the Lord
But live each day ignoring Him
And His life-giving Word.

We do not have to be part of the crowd; it is not our destiny. We can passionately honour God on Monday just as much as we do on Sunday, praising Him with our lives [every decision, action, joke or smile]. We can echo the crowd on Palm Sunday rather than the mob on Good Friday.

-Andrew Carey

Unnoticed moves of God.

How would you define a ‘move of God’, moments in history where you can see God’s fingerprints in our lives?
Parting of the Red Sea.
Naaman being healed.
Feeding of the five thousand.
Raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Yeah, all of these are moves of God, but they are all miraculous moves of God; what about the ordinary moves of God? I can hear you thinking, ‘Surely there can’t be any ordinary moves of God; God is extra-ordinary!’ Yes He is extra-ordinary but sometimes he works out His [extra-ordinary] plans in our ordinary.

Check this out:
Boaz married Ruth. She became his wife. Boaz slept with her. By God's gracious gift she conceived and had a son. (Ruth 4:13 MSG)
Nothing miraculous there, and yet this is a move of God.
Here we read about God working out salvation in the ordinary. Ruth married Boaz and they decided to have a family. That’s it. Nothing earth shattering or history shaking; it sounds like the decisions that we make (or see being made) every day. But the ordinariness of this story was key to our salvation. Because Ruth and Boaz chose to have children David, the great King of Israel, was born and through David’s line Christ was born. And because Christ was born we can now be re-born as we receive the salvation that he offers us through the cross and the empty grave.
Ruth and Boaz had no concept of this; they just decided to live their lives, but in their lives was God.

You may struggle to notice the significance of your life in work, in your town or even your church. Nothing miraculous has happened in your life and so does this mean that God is not present or active? After all surely you would notice. Ruth and Boaz never noticed God at work in their lives on this occasion; it was just an ordinary everyday decision. Even in the ordinariness of your life God is at work, and who knows what story of salvation he will write in someone’s life because of ordinary decisions you make today.

Rejoice because God is the God of the ordinary as well as the miraculous, but even the ordinary is extra-ordinary in His presence.

-Andrew Carey

Jesus wins!

“A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” (Rom 12:1 NIV)

What?!

Do you sometimes read stuff in the Old Testament, or worse still in Revelations, and thought, “What?! I’m supposed to be a Christian, I haven’t got a ‘vindaloo’ [rhyming slang: clue] what that is all about!!!”
After all isn’t the Holy Spirit supposed to reveal all things to us. Wasn’t that the promise?
Yes it was and he does! He makes it so simple for us that sometimes don’t take it in. I was reminded of this when I read this little story:

Walking through campus one day, a seminary professor came upon a custodian reading the Bible during lunch hour. The professor asked what he was reading.
“Revelation,” the custodian said.
“I’m sure you don’t understand what it means,” said the professor condescendingly.
“Actually, I do,” he replied. “It means Jesus wins.”

When phased by stuff we don’t grasp that is all we need to know: JESUS WINS!
Could it be any more reassuringly simple?!

-Andrew Carey

Oops.

Er… I have misplaced my memory stick with today’s blog on it. I hope to find it for tomorrow

“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline... Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.” (Col 13:12-13 MSG)

:o)

Have a good day.

-Andrew Carey

More than just a Good Friday.

Easter is the most amazing event in our calendar. It thoroughly excites me.

Alarmingly I once recall hearing a group of children trying to figure out what Easter was all about and one girl chipped in with the suggestion that it was about nailing bunnies to crosses! An amusingly macabre image :o)

This weekend is not about commemorating a long forgotten event; it is the celebration of something key to our very own lives today. We celebrate salvation – our rescue. While the whole of the Christian world will be celebrating Easter together it is an incredibly personal time; we remember what Jesus has done just for us, individually. But this is more than just a celebration it is our healing – it’s a sacrifice that makes no sense but it is an immovable and eternal truth.

“But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed.” (Is 53:5 MSG)

I get up early most mornings to play my baby daughter. This means that I get to witness some rather strange TV shows on Cbeebies. One of them is ‘Discover & Do’. This is the epitome of Easter. We have salvation to discover [afresh] but if that is all that happens you will have missed out on the greater joy – Doing. Get out there and share salvation. There is a million ways of doing this but only a few of them involve any verbal communication – show people a salvation life; one full of joy and service and love.

Have a great Easter: He has risen, he has risen indeed!

-Andrew Carey

Pleasantly watery.

Through necessity I have become quite adept at plumbing. When I first bought my house it had what could only be described as a ropey central heating system; the boiler constantly boiled water and at least one radiator a month would ‘pin-hole’ sending a spray of water into whatever room it occupied. In no time at all I became very skilled in quickly isolating a radiator, bleeding it and patching up the hole. On top of this the header tank in the loft would occasionally split due insufficient structural support. I discovered this early one Saturday morning when I touched the stairs wall only to have a steady flow of water pass over my hand. It was more of a waterfall than a wall!!! I then had the pleasure of spending a beautiful summer day cramped in a small dark place trying to fix it. By the evening I’m sure that I had begun to look like Gollum.

In those days I used to have an ear finely tuned to any aquatic based sounds in the house, instantly responding to even the faintest of drips just to avoid any impending disaster. Sometimes, though, the sound of water is a delight. I recall orienteering when I was much younger. A friend and I had become completely lost but we figured out that if we could find what looked like a prominent stream we’d be able to get ourselves back. But the stream was not where we had expected it to be. But just as we were about to voice our dismay we realised that we could hear water even though we couldn’t see it. We searched the undergrowth, following the sound until we found the source of the noise, a stream buried in the undergrowth!

The sound of water is beautifully refreshing, and to put your hand in it is divine.
This is our role in every situation we find ourselves, to be a refreshing stream of life:
Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit. (John 7:37-39 NIV)

You may think that you don’t feel much like that but it is true (if it is not then Jesus is a liar and your faith is suddenly on wobbly ground… which it isn’t). God’s Holy Spirit flows through your life like streams of living water; refreshing, renewing, regenerating, reshaping. You are not dry ground, the life of salvation flows from you. Just as a stream cannot stop itself from flowing, the life that flows from you is not based on your skill in explaining the Gospel or your confidence with people – it is all reliant on the source of the stream; God alone! You are not dry ground you are an oasis in your family, school, office etc.

Every little thing you do reverberates in people’s minds (whether you know it or not) like the sound of a trickling stream. It causes them to draw near, to see its life and enquire about its source.

-Andrew Carey

While you were sleeping.

‘While You Were Sleeping’ is one of the few romantic comedies that I love to watch again and again. I won’t try to sell it to you because it is such a personal thing; even if I did there’s every chance you may not enjoy it and then that’ll be an evening wasted.

Thinking about this reminded me of something that my Pastor happened to say while introducing communion on Sunday. As usual he began to read the following verse [as he normally does]:
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matt 26:26-28 NIV)

But on this occasion he got not further than the first few words and then paused.
While they were eating, Jesus…
‘Jesus happens in our lives while things were happening,’ he said. ‘While they were shopping, Jesus… While they were studying, Jesus… While they were looking after the kids, Jesus… While they were working, Jesus… While they were spending time with friends, Jesus… While they were sharing a meal with the family, Jesus… While they were sat watching a movie, Jesus… While they were praying, Jesus… While they were sorting out their finances, Jesus… While they waited for the doctors to give them their test results, Jesus… While they were flying to Zambia, Jesus… While they were singing in Silver Liners, Jesus… While they were climbing trees, Jesus… While they were sleeping, Jesus.’
Jesus breaks in and celebrates salvation, sets up a monument in our life, while we are just going about our daily business. While you are doing what you normally do today you can encounter Jesus [magnificently and intimately] and better still, others can encounter him through you.

-Andrew Carey

Good evening.

The other day I [re-]read this passage from Matthew:

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.
Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”
But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” (Matt 14:22-27 NLT)

Walking on water – amazing!
The mad thing is to realise that, as Peter discovered, we too can walk on water when we walk hand in hand with Christ! But this is not what stood out to me on this occasion.

‘After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.’ (vs. 23)
This reminded me of the necessity of spending time with God, at any time. I’ve read quite a few passages where it tells us that Jesus got up early and went to pray before starting the day. We use this to motivate us in spending time with God first thing… but I forget that Jesus didn’t stop at this. He was hungry to spend time with his Heavenly Father at any time. Here we read that night fell while he was praying! He was finishing the day in God’s presence and you can see for yourself what an amazing effect this had.

Since the birth of my daughter my comfortable routine has been dramatically disrupted. I don’t have mornings to myself now let alone any other time (when I feel half conscious). But this just went to remind me to take any time to spend it with God; 10 mins at lunch, 5 mins in the bathroom before bed, 15 mins in the bath (before the baby joins you) on a Saturday morning, your break times, or the train into to work.

The only way we will take a tighter hold onto our saviour’s hand is to spend [any] time [we can] with Him. Let us become opportunistic in this regard. If we fail to put God first we’ll fail to be of any [real] use to anyone else who needs us.

- Andrew Carey