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

Silly poem day

We need more cheeriness

In a world full of dreariness

There's far too much weariness

For my liking.

So let's put it aside;

And instead let's abide

In the things we can all

Take delight in.

Life is like a quartet: two thoughts on life and music

1.)  Life is like a quartet: everyone has their part to play and each player has to listen to the others, so that he complements them; either by joining together in a strong voice of harmony, or by slipping into the background and allowing another to take up the tune and have his moment of glory.

Say you are playing a piece of Mozart.  The first violin might have the tune, while the other instruments will just have bars of repetition.  Dull as these parts seem on their own, when the music is heard as a whole, they provide the foundation for the tune to be built on, and they turn out to be vital in holding the music together.  I'm sure you can see what I'm saying here.  Even if you think you are not contributing in any significant way to society, or think your job is dull, you are probably a key staple without which the Whole would be lacking.  You are more important than you may realise.

2.)  Let's continue our Mozart theme.  Quite often when playing Mozart, the first violin might have a tune, then the second violin might echo it.  Doesn't this resemble our words?  We say something, and our words are echoed by others - like a pebble dropped into a calm pond, the ripples spread out around it.  Our words might be echoed verbatim, or perhaps along the same theme, but changed slightly, or maybe even reversed altogether, so that what is heard is the inverse of what was originally spoken.

Enjoy the rest of the week and God bless you.

RJ

Photo of the Day

This was a photo I took at the Royal Highland Show, which I went to last week. These are 'Arbroath Smokies', - haddock which have been salted (to preserve them and take excess moisture out) before being smoked, hanging in pairs in a half whisky barrel which is lined with slates and covered in hessian.  I believe they use beech and oak for the fire.  A fascinating process and I can assure you the end result tasted fantastic...

I used pixlr-o-matic to age the photo and give it a more 'authentic' look!