Here we go!

My dear readers,

I owe you an apology.  A big one.  I said I would start posting in here again, and I haven't...

Let me update you a little with what's been happening in my life since my last proper post of...um... May 2013... wow - that seems like a long time ago.  Well, since then, I graduated (a miracle in itself), applied to 5 small companies semi-optimistically, went to South Korea for a month to teach English with a Christian organisation - having no idea what I would be doing after that, or even what I wanted to do... got an interview offer and an offer for a masters halfway through my time there, after prayer rejected the masters offer and accepted the interview, got back, had the interview, then started my new job the following week.  That's the short version of the story, and a lot of commas.  In reality it was a long chain of really quite miraculous events in which God proved His faithfulness to me time and time again.  I went from uncertainty and doubt about my future to knowing that He has everything under control, and definitely always knows what He's doing.  Sometimes we seem to go through seasons like that - where we just seem to know God's blessings, one after the other - even though it may seem like we can't see a foot in front of us.  All He requires of us is that we trust Him - and He does the rest...

I want to share with you my testimony of the journey I had in Korea and following events, but I think that will require a separate post (or two!).

Blessings,
RJ

Interlude and a New Beginning

Dear Friends,

I don't know how many or you are actually still reading this blog, because I seem to have been neglecting my duties somewhat in the last few months.  Bear with me, though; I'm still alive.  And I am still writing.

Life, however, has a slightly annoying tendency to get in the way and prevent one from getting one's thoughts onto paper just when things are starting to get interesting.  In the past few months, life has certainly been interesting for me.  I hope it has been interesting for you, too.

Sometimes, one seems to go through a period in life of challenges, growth, and changes, and that is exactly what I have been going through for the last few months.  I like to think that out of it all, I have become a more mature person, both in my relationship with God and in general, so I hope that this will be reflected in my writings to come.

Testimonies are powerful.  Last Friday I heard testimonies from two African girls, and they struck a chord with me on many different levels.  God has been doing things in my life recently, and in the next few posts I am excited to share some of that with you along with my usual thinkings, so I hope you will be encouraged by it.  Everybody has a story, and everybody's story can affect others through shared experience, common struggles and collective overcoming.  So please - as I share, feel free to share your stories of what God has been doing in your life too, I love to hear about it.

This is the start of 'a drop in the ocean - part 2'.  Be prepared.  Be excited... :D

Shalom.

New Notebook

There's nothing more satisfying than starting anew.

Yesterday I bought a new notebook:

 I have to admit, I bought it because I can't resist a nice shiny new notebook which has a cover as pretty as this.  Also, my old one had run out...

Suitcase God?

Why is it sometimes that when we start getting close to God, we start forming a proper relationship with him and ‘moving forward’, we can still wake up in the morning and decide to do things our own way? We say to ourselves ‘right, I've come this far with you, Lord, now I'm quite happy to stay here a while and do things my own way for a bit…’ and we pack him into a suitcase, ready to take out on such occasion as we might ‘need’ him. Thank God He will never fit in a suitcase. Thank God he never lets us pack him away and leave him in a corner to forget about… sooner or later he reminds us he's still there, looking out for us, and that our attempts to pack him away for a while and fit him into a box were pretty futile. I don't know the number of times I have tried to pack God away whenever it has not been ‘convenient’ for me to be challenged by him and I have just wanted to stay exactly where I am, thank you very much. How stubborn I am sometimes… 

Why are we so reluctant, on occasions, to let God have his way with us? For one thing, it can make us feel uncomfortable. It means getting out of our comfort zones and facing up to things that we don’t like about ourselves. Sometimes we just feel happy with where we are at the moment, not realising that God is constantly on the move, wanting us to move with him and go into deeper places of fellowship with him. Sometimes God does a ‘new thing’ which he wants us to be a part of, and we freak out a little because it goes against the rules and order that we've just got comfortable with… Sometimes we are just scared of what other people might think. After all, it wouldn't do to be seen being ‘Christian-y’, would it?

I have to admit, I struggle with this sometimes, but I know I'm not the only one. How many people in the history of the Bible either ran away from God (Jonah, ahem), tried to hide from him for a while, or got comfortable with where they were? God always knows where you are, what your struggles are, what your thoughts are, and never takes you out of your comfort zone without giving you the strength to go through with whatever he has planned!  Sometimes, when I have come to my senses and reminded myself of these things, I just have to have a laugh with my Father in heaven at how silly I was to think I could pack Him into a suitcase…!

A Father's Love

My Father's love is like a garden; beautiful and refreshing. Green grass sparkles in the light, bright with dew. I run freely, happy as the wind, carefree as a little child. My Father's love is big, so big. How can I ever replicate it? My heart is not big enough. Here is the place where I know that I know that I know... I am your child, your servant, and you love me anyway, just Because. Here is the place you first met me; it is special, holy. Here is the secret place. Here is security, a safe haven, a refuge, a place of honesty, a place of tears, a place of silence, a place of discovery, a place of joy.

The hospital for souls

Light.   All-pervading light.  Beds all around - only they aren't like beds, more like clouds... or rather, the sort of beds that you can lie in and immediately feel rested and comfortable in without having to move around.  I lie in one, a tired soul... tired of the world and worn out from its strains, scarred from its hurts.  Many other tired souls lie around me, each occupying one of these otherworldly cloud-beds.  Each looks like it has faded; they are almost translucent, their substance all but gone.  Then I notice something else: a Figure.  He walks among them, stopping at intervals, checking on each, and doing something I couldn't quite see.  Then I realise: he is ministering to them in some way.  As the figure moves on from each soul, I notice another thing; the souls have changed.  It is as if they are more real - they are less translucent then they were before, more solid.

I come to another realisation: I am in a hospital - only this is no ordinary hospital; there are no wires or tubes.  The healing of the souls seems to come from the air itself, and as I lie there, I feel more rested in five minutes than if I had spent eight hours of 'normal' sleep.  Only time doesn't seem to matter here.  An eternity is the same as five minutes; this place is outside the limitations of time.  There seems to be something in the air - I can feel it seeping into my being, restoring me.  Life.  Not the sort of life we normally talk about, no, a sort of aliveness that is more real and tangible than anything in our world, a strong and vibrant life that pervades everything, and I now realise is emanating from the Figure who walks among the souls.  I lie for a while, rested.  Now I am recharged, and it is time to go...

Sanitised Christianity

Christians are called to help people in need.  The simple fact: we are getting it wrong when it comes to carrying this out.  We go up to a person and tell them: 'you need God' - yes, maybe the person does need God, but first and foremost they need our love, compassion, and help!  Jesus didn't go around telling people 'mate, you need God.  I'm going to convert you now'.  No!  He first met their need, then he revealed who God was through himself.  In the church today Christianity has become a sanitised Sunday-morning affair - we go on a Sunday morning, we attend bible study, but see a poor person on the street?  Nah, not my sort of thing.  Someone else can help him.  Friends, when we see a need, we need to meet it.  That is what Christians are called to do.  That is what the kingdom of God is about.  First and foremost, we need to learn to love God.  Then loving our neighbours will come naturally...

RJ