Tag: life

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Lost in translation.

It’s such a famous passage: “They that wait upon The Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 King James Bible)

I’ve always read it as a call to rest, be quiet, wait… and then the strength will come and I will rise up, run, walk. I’ve always heard it preached that way and never really given it much thought. We all know it, we sing songs based on it, and surely we understand it.

Last night I had an OUCH moment. One of those times when the Word of God hits you in such a way that you wince at the impact of it. It makes you cringe as you reflect the word upon your own life. You squirm at the implications for how you proceed.

I was listening to Pastor Steven Furtick and he turned the verse on it’s head saying that to “wait” doesn’t mean stopping, it means the same thing as a waiter waiting on tables… serving.

“What we call Patience, God often calls Procrastination.” was one soundbite from the sermon.

OUCH.

That hurt. How many times have I “waited on God” before acting? How many times could I have been stepping out in faith, getting on with the job and believing that Gods strength would come, that His wisdom would be known as I too a leap of faith. How many times have I sat on my backside when I could have been seeking God through action.

Now I don’t take such radical shifts in the way the bible is interpreted at face value… so I did some digging into the different translations of this verse to see what they said:

  • “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.They will soar high on wings like eagles.They will run and not grow weary.They will walk and not faint.” (New Living Translation)
  • “But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wingsand mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” (Amplified)
  • “But those who trust the Lord will find new strength. They will be strong like eagles soaring upward on wings; they will walk and run without getting tired.” (Contemporary English Version)
  • “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (New International Version)

Don’t get me wrong, there are times we need to STOP. To wait on God. To refresh and recharge. Even the most enthusiastic and energetic of Christians need to stop sometimes or risk burning out. There are times when God needs to speak to us in the silence and the calm, to ensure He has our full attention and that we aren’t so distracted by DOING that we aren’t LISTENING.

But it’s also been a far too convenient excuse. It’s been so easy to accept that I need to “wait” and not “do”.

I wonder… how much further would I be if I’d mounted up on wings like eagles? if I’d run and trusted that God would provide the strength?

Yes, there’s always grace – but there are also seasons, and I suspect there have been some that I’ve missed because I’ve been sat on my blessed assurance with a holy face on. Hopefully now I might just be a bit more proactive and less procastinatory (is that even a word?!?)

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Love, Life and Communion


What a weekend! One couple committing to a new future together, another celebrating a major milestone and a big reminder of the ultimate expression of love.

You may have noticed it’s been a few weeks since my last blog post. You may also have noticed the little counter that is on the right of my homepage has now gone from counting DOWN to my borthers wedding and is now counting the days SINCE the wedding!

Yup, at long last my cute ickle baby bruvver (can’t resist I’m afraid bro!) has gotten married and boy has he managed to punch above his weight finding someone charming, witty, patient and who looked gorgeous in her wedding dress (OK – I promise I’ll stop picking on you now Roo :-D)

With our daughter as a bridesmaid, me as an usher, and plenty of other things happening it was always going to be a huge build up to the big day. What also added to the weekend was the fact that my Mum & Dad celebrated 40 years of marriage! I was priveleged to be asked to do a cake for the event (which Mrs H baked and I decorated, with an additional surprise of some chocolate and some jammy cupcakes for good measure). I was also honoured to be asked to lead communion following my parents renewing their wedding vows.

I guess this would be a good point to Congratulate Mr & Mrs Hartley Jr and also to offer huge respect and congrats to the patriarch and matriarch of the Hartley Clan!

It was really rather odd in some ways as on the one hand Mrs H and I were watching two people embark on a journey that we’ve been travelling for the past 12 years, and then we were looking ahead at an inspirational and great example of what love and marriage should be like after so many years. Reflection and Vision in the space of two days, not a bad thing really (tiredness and hectic arrangements aside!)

Being asked to lead the communion on the Sunday was a great blessing for me, and I found myself being given a clear direction straight away. As much for my own memory as anything (although I do hope that you will be blessed by it) I thought I’d share my communion notes below. They’re not polished or honed particularly but represent the outpouring of what I felt God wanted to convey through the act of sharing the bread and wine.

Communion. The most intimate act we can ever know

Communion in the dictionary is defined as: com·mun·ion [kuh-myoon-yuhn]
association; fellowship.
interchange or sharing of thoughts or emotions; intimate communication
They act of sharing, or holding in common; participation.

If there is one overriding theme this weekend, it’s Love.

With my baby brother getting married yesterday, and my parents celebrating 40 years of marriage today, it’s also a weekend of commitment, of promise, of covenant and relationship. It’s a time of intimacy and the wonder and mystery of two becoming one.

Our relationship with God takes all of this, and far exceeds what we can fully understand. He is our Father. The Holy Spirit is our companion and guide. Christ is our brother, saviour, Lord and lover of our souls. There’s an intimacy between us and Jesus that exceeds that which those of us who are married share with our other halves.

It goes beyond that though as there is even more to our relationship with Him because, as a church, we are to be the bride of Christ.

The relationship that God the Father, Spirit and Son wants to have with us is so close, so intimate, so complete that it encompasses, and is the ultimate version of, every type of positive relationship that we can have on earth.

Communion is one more expression of that complete devotion towards us. Just as a Bride and Groom give to each other fully, so Jesus is giving fully to us through a piece of bread and a sip of wine. It is a symbol of Jesus, the groom, giving himself completely over to his bride.

Through this simple act the all-embracing relationship with the trinity is demonstrated to us.

1 John 4:10 – THIS IS LOVE: not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took some bread. He gave thanks and then he broke it, giving it to the disciples as an act of remembrance. Likewise He took a cup of wine, gave thanks again and passed it to the disciples. The bread to remind us that His body was sacrificed for us, the wine for the blood that was shed as He suffered and died for us all.

That’s love. That’s commitment. That’s intimacy.

As the bread and the cup are brought to you, I pray that you will feel that ultimate and perfect Love coming from heaven. If you don’t feel able to take communion then please let them pass you by – but know that this Love isn’t passing you by and is there for you as much as for anyone.

 

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Passion


Passion

Boy, there’s a word to conjure a mixture of images in a mind. It may make you think of a sporting event with roaring supporters, or maybe screaming fans at a concert. For the more intellectually-inclined it might bring to mind two sides of a heated debate. It could even leave you with a knowing smile and a hint of a blush.

It’s a word that has some much resonance at this time of year for a completely different reason. During Holy Week it awakens thoughts of a triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, through to the intimacy and ultimate betrayal of a meal with close friends. Images of humiliation and mocking, followed by an excruciating death and then the ultimate joy of a resurrection.

All for passion.

All because there’s a God who is so passionately in love with His people that He sacrificed His Son to reach out to us and to clear the debt of our imperfect lives. All because He Loves ME… and YOU. Not “the human race” as a faceless mass of people, but each of us by name.

It’s sobering, heartwrenching, heartwarming, mindblowing, humbling and so much more. The infinite creator of the universe, so passionate about ME that He would go through all that… for ME.

I can’t tell you how much this impacts me to the core of my being. Even when I was away from God, there was always something about Easter that tugged at me (I always put it down to the raw emotions I was used to feeling rather than anything else – boy was I deluded)

Spend 5 minutes this week, just 5 minutes, and think about what happened 2000 years ago and why. Then ask yourself “what should it mean to me?”

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The human cocoon

2012 is quite a year in so many historic ways. We’re hosting the Olympics which, no matter your political inclinations and views, is a huge honour and responsibility. HRH Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60 years as our monarch, becoming only the second in British history to have achieved this milestone. My baby brother is getting married at long last and my parents are celebrating 40 years of marriage.

But it’s not just the events that are happening this year that make it historic for me. 2012 also marks the 20th anniversary of some huge milestones in my personal life:

  • It was the year we left Germany, after a 5 year stint (and a prior 3 1/2 year posting there.
  • It was the year I “re-invented” myself
  • It was the year God started to give me a heart for a small, historical, market town and the people who live there
  • It was the year I first met the girl I was going to end up marrying
  • and so much more…

Although the move from Germany was the major catalyst for what lay ahead, the real key “first-domino” that put my feet on a path I would tread was the whole business of re-inventing myself.

Those who knew me before and after the change can testify to the change in me, I became a completely different person in so many ways. I made a determined decision to use the change of scenery to rewrite my own view of myself, and therefore the way that everyone else would know me.

The analogy that best fits, and was often used, is that of the caterpillar breaking out of the cocoon and becoming the butterfly it was destined to become. That analogy is limited in some ways though as, whilst it does encapsulate what happened, it almost implies a one-off event rather than a step (albeit a hugely significant one) in the journey that is my life.

It’s almost like we, as humans, will periodically wrap ourselves in a cocoon to emerge later as the newest version of ourselves. Still who we were but changed in a significant way.

Sometimes that change is a negative time, as if we wrap ourselves up and come out with the muted tones of a moth rather than the brightness and splendour of a glorious butterfly. Most times though it’s a time when we are re-formed into something brighter and better.

The cocoon period might be a prolonged process as circumstances take hold, as God works within us, as we come to terms with the realisation of impending change. It might be a shorter process, maybe even overnight. But when we emerge, we’re different and those around us notice.

The thing about the cocoon moments is that they don’t always tie in with major life events such as marriage, children arriving, job changes, family deaths etc. They can catch us out, and can simply be as a result of us being in an environment where we’ve been fed, grown, matured and changed. The can also occur when we’ve been cut down, weakened, battered, pushed beyond our limits and shaken beyond what we feel capable of handling.

As I look at the last 20 years my cocoon moments have included a mix of good and bad: re-inventing myself, losing faith, prodigals return to name but three. Looking back, I am completely different to the Me Version 2.0 that I launched in 1992, there was a dodgy release 3.0 but version 4.0 is looking far more promising and I really wouldn’t be surprised to discover a version 5.0 coming up in the next year or few.

If you think back upon your own life what would your “cocoon moments” be? Are your butterfly wings bright and colourful right now or are you in a moth-phase. Wherever you are, whatever stage you’re in, I pray that you will experience a new cocoon full of colour, splendour, joy and wonder.

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Slavery didn’t end 200 years ago–it’s happening TODAY


TWENTY SEVEN MILLION.

I can’t make that number sound as big as it is. It’s a number that’s so big that we can’t visualise it.

If we counted 1 per second it would take 7500 hours to count. That’s 312 1/2 days. Nearly a year of counting 1 every second.

T W E N T Y  S E V E N  M I L L I O N

That’s roughly how many people are in slavery today. Human trafficking is huge business. It’s worth BILLIONS of dollars per year.

It’s not just happening in Africa, or Eastern Europe. It’s not just happening in the Middle East or Asia. It’s happening HERE. On our doorsteps.

Kids sold by their families into slavery, either for labour or the sex trade. Kids stolen, kidnapped, taken to a life that is literally hell on earth. They are sold promises of a bright future, of helping their impoverished families, of getting a new life that offers hope and life – they end up in a soul-destroying world that removes their humanity, silences their voices and makes them disappear.

IT MUST STOP NOW!

We need to be a voice. We need to be the restorers of humanity. We need to BE the change in the world that truly and utterly destroys this evil trade. Whether you have a faith or not – this transcends spirituality and speaks to our humanity. We ALL need to be crying out for the one person every thirty seconds who is sold into slavery, who is trafficked into a life of hell.

LZ7 and Matt Redman, along with Matts wife Beth, are working to raise the profile of this issue in the UK. There’s a single out NOW on iTunes and they are speaking out whenever and wherever they can. They are a handful of voices, shouting out in the UK… and we, if we want to truly be considered good human beings, MUST join the shout. They are partnering with the A21 Campaign, an international body working to end human trafficking and to shine a spotlight on the horrific industry that is so prevalent in our world.

It can’t be optional. It really can’t. If we are silent on this then we are condemning these millions to the lives they are trapped in. We have got to join the cry of an outraged nation and be vocal.

You might think that one voice can’t make a difference – but if you tell 3 friends, who then tell three more each then that’s 10 of you aware. Multiply that. Post it on Twitter and Facebook and see your friends respond, GET THEM to respond. One voice can lead to a thousand, who can lead to a million. It’s not that big a stretch of the imagination to think of this being shouted out in the media, in parliament, in the UN.

Visit the A21 website to get ideas on how you can get involved. Tell your friends. Tell your MP. Tell your pastors, your teachers, your neighbours, your colleagues. Buy the single and get the song played out across all radio stations and on the TV.

Watch the two videos below and please, TAKE A STAND.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ15rbJUnNM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1pthSgxTC0[/youtube]