Dec 19th - testimony

I've just got to tell you what happened on Sunday evening.  Such a demonstration of how God cares about all the littlest details.

Last week church was involved in doing a home makeover for a young family who were having a really hard time.  They were moving from private rented housing to council housing just before Christmas and the whole place needed to be redecorated as the previous tenant must have smoked about 100 a day.   There had been a set of very difficult circumstances leading up to that point and the family was exhausted and overwhelmed.  Our church stepped in to offer some help to the other organisations involved.  We picked up our paintbrushes and set to.

I was in the house on Tuesday and the young mother ( let's call her Maya) was there wanting to do what she could to help out.  Other people were supposed to be there too but they didnt show up so it was just the two of us - which of course gave us chance to chat.    Maya and her husband are from Greece *.  They have been in Northern Ireland for a few years and she has been working as a nurse.
The first thing that happened was that she asked me what I did for a living and I told her that I worked for Jo Jingles.  She immediately started telling me that she had been looking into taking her toddler along to classes but wasn't sure how it worked.  So I was able to tell her, encourage her to go, and later speak to my boss to let her know to look out for her.  So that was a nice 'coincidence.'

Then at the end of the week when we had done a really good job on the house we invited Maya to our carol service.  Not because we wanted to recruit her, or emotionally blackmail her or exploit her sense of indebtedness to us in any way..... but just because it was going to be a nice evening and we thought she might enjoy it.   And she came.

The building was packed.  There were probably about three hundred people there and there was barely a seat to be had.  Josh had come with me - Keith was at work and the other two boys had stayed at home.  We nearly always sit on the end of a row but we decided to shuffle into the middle to let others who arrived a bit later get a seat.   As the service was about to start I looked up and there was Maya.  There was one seat next to me and she came over and sat with me.  She had her toddler with her.   Cute as a button and absolutely loved the Christmas carols.  She was clapping her hands and dancing and having a great time and Maya seemed to be really enjoying herself, singing heartily and playing with her daughter throughout.    Halfway through the sermon the toddler got a bit loud and fractious so Maya took her out to the creche.

At the end of the service I was talking to Josh and when I looked round Maya was deep in conversation with the lady who had been sitting on the other side of her.  It turns out that that lady was a member of our congregation who is a fluent Greek speaker!!  Not only that but she is an interpreter - and Maya has recently been thinking that it is time to get out of nursing and possibly go into translating work.   So the two of them exchanged phone numbers and arranged to meet up to talk about a possible career change.

What are the chances of a complete stranger walking into a room of three hundred people and sitting next to the only other person in the room who speaks their language??   One in three hundred I guess  😃   Maya was blown away - she was quite prepared to believe that God had arranged all of that.  And I was blown away by the care that He takes with people.  He knows the smallest details of our lives - from the music classes we want to attend with our kids to the career changes we might be contemplating.  He knows when we need practical help to paint our skirting boards and when we just need to hear someone speaking our mother tongue when we are strangers in a foreign land.

Dont you just love Him?

I've been reading a whole bunch of books in recent weeks for a course Im doing in church.  But one evening watching God at work tells me so much more about Him than any number of pages of doctrine and theology and testimony and teaching.  Wonderful though all that is.  Keep your eyes open.  He is doing this stuff all the time everywhere.  Its exciting to be in on some of His secrets some of the time 😊



(Oh, and for anyone who is interested about 800 Jesus stones went out into the big wide world on Sunday.  Im praying that each one of them will have a story to tell somewhere down the line )

(* I changed their country of origin and jobs in order to further protect their identities )

Dec 18th - non verbal communication

I was sitting in church yesterday behind baby Florence and her parents.  She is about nine months old and as gorgeous as all little ones are at that age.  Utterly dependent on the adults in her life she spent most of the service in Mum or Dad's arms and fell asleep during the sermon only waking up at the end.  She was on her Dad's shoulder during the worship which meant she was smiling and waving and eyeballing me the whole time.  I couldnt focus on singing at all.  I was mesmerised by her.

As I watched her I began to feel God show me how much He loves His kids.  Of course we know this and we have all watched young children and felt that Holy Spirit nudge of comparison.  But today I saw something a bit different.    Florence can't talk yet.  But that didnt stop her from communicating with her Dad.  He was blowing raspberries at her - and she was copying him with her little tongue sticking out.  She saw me clapping my hands and she clapped hers.  She was playing peek a boo from behind her Dad's neck and grinning at me broadly when she caught my eye.  There was so much going on.  But not a word was spoken.

God speaks to us all the time.  But sometimes He doesnt use words.  Just as in yesterday's post I was thinking about showing the world what He is like in our actions every bit as much as in our words, I was struck by how much of God's love comes to us in ' non-verbal' ways.   Im sure you can think of many ways in which you have understood, felt, recognised His love to you......  here are a couple of my stories.

I remember years ago when I was a social worker there was a period of several weeks - maybe months- when I was driving to work every day to Loanhead from Portobello.  Every day in the car I would just have this sense of God's hand on my head.  He didnt say anything.  There was no scripture going through my mind or anything.  But I had an overwhelming sense of His favour on me.  Particularly favour at work.  It was so clear.  And amazing.   Several times Ive been on the beach and I've found stones with messages in them.  I have one piece of rock which has three perfect crosses woven into the grain - its entirely natural rock formation and entirely supernatural that I should have found that one rock on a beach of a gazillion rocks.   I also found a black stone with a perfectly shaped pink heart in it.  And more recently I found one with a fish shape on it.  I suppose when you spend your spare time collecting stones to paint .........😊   Each time I find something like that I know it is a wee gift from my Father who just wants to make me smile.  No words necessary

In these days many people are wondering how to hear God's voice for the first time.  And loads of us who have heard Him for years go through spells when He seems to go very quiet and we wonder what has happened.   Maybe we need to become like little children again - trust that He has us in His arms and that sometimes He has no need for words.  His strong embrace, His loving gaze, the touch of His hand on our face is enough.

And sometimes He wants to blow a raspberry at us.

It delights His heart when we get the joke and blow one right back


Ps.  Guess what?  Raspberry blowing is good for babies development!!  Who knew?!
http://www.chicagoparent.com/learn/health-fitness/raspberries-spit-bubbles-just-drooly-fun-good-developing-babies/

Dec 17th - To Christmas or not to Christmas

I was in a charity shop yesterday and I got talking to the guy behind the counter.  He was in pain and told me he had a hernia but that he couldn't go to the doctor because he was due to go to India and Pakistan in January and was afraid the doc would tell him he shouldn't travel.   I surmised that his trip would be something church related and so I gave him a clue that I was a Christian and sure enough we were soon deep in conversation about........ Christmas.

He said he didnt ' do ' Christmas.  He hated the commercialism, the debt the drinking and the fact that Jan and Feb are the busiest months in abortion clinics.  He said that as a Christian every day should be Christmas and that we should be being salt and light out in the world, not giving out mince pies and mulled wine at carol services in an attempt to attract people in to church.  I didn't disagree with anything he said.   But the way he said it was quite....... forceful.   I had to leave the shops as my parking meter was running out - and I have to confess I was quite glad to have the excuse to go as I felt that the conversation could easily have started to be uncomfortable.

Only after Id left did I realise that we had had quite a serious and animated discussion about the merits or otherwise of celebrating Christmas and I had not actually offered to pray for him about the hernia which was causing him considerable pain.

There is a lesson in that I think.

I'm pretty sure that the kingdom of God is not much or quickly advanced by debate and discussion and arguments over theological niceities.  In fact it is one of the things which ' the world' both despises and doesn't understand about the church.   Why can't we agree with each other and why are we always arguing over points of doctrine?     Jesus didnt spent all that much time talking theology - He spent much more time doing.  Doing miracles and healings and deliverance.  Hanging out with sinners and women and foreigners.  Going to parties and changing water into wine.    Had I offered to pray with the shop guy first I think the conversation would have gone in a whole other direction.   Hey ho.  30 years a Christian and still missing more opportunities than I take 😊

I know we need to always be ready to answer for our faith - but perhaps sometimes the answer we have for people should be more in our actions and less in our words.   The world is weary with words.   What it needs is a demonstration of the kingdom's power and love.

Guess that starts with me.

And you.

Dec 16th - Fun

I was watching Anne Widdicome's Strictly Come Dancing performances last night.  And was laughing out loud at how ridiculous she was - but also had a huge sense of respect for a woman of a certain age who was willing to throw herself into the whole show with such abandon.  She genuinely didn't care that she couldn't dance for toffee.  She was prepared to lay aside her political reputation
and be rather ridiculous to give people a laugh on a Saturday night.  She was so funny and I think the British public fell in love with her just a little bit because she was prepared to have fun.

The other thing I did yesterday was I went to a concert.  The Ulster Orchestra were doing a Christmas gig and I was taken along as by a good friend who wanted to bless me for Christmas.  The orchestra members were all dressed in Christmas costumes.    Most of the brass section were wearing santa suits or elf costumes.  The conductor was sporting a Darth Vader Christmas jumper.   A first violin was wearing a rather fetching christmas pudding dress.  It was really nice to see people who are usually dressed in black for a living being just a little bit crazy because it was Christmas.  ( The concert was a whole heap of festive fun with sing-along bits and lots of seasonal favourites)



It strikes me that if there's any time of the year when we have an excuse to have fun.... this is it!.   At Christmas you are allowed to tell bad jokes and play parlour games and watch corny films and belly laugh with family and friends.   You are actively encouraged to wear a garish Christmas jumper and give your best mate a really embarrassing present.   You are supposed to get down on your hands and knees with small children and play with trains.  And if you get the chance to go to a nativity play or a pantomime you have to join in and sing along and shout and cheer.   It's nice isnt it?  Having the excuse to just loosen up a little bit.  Being given permission to relax and embrace your inner seven year old ?

I know that for some people Christmas this year won't be a barrel of laughs.  But for those of us who can, let's resolve to have more fun.  Let's be a bit sillier, a bit louder and a bit more childlike than we usually are.  Because I genuinely think it's good for us and for those around us.    Jesus told us that we needed to be like little children - and if anyone knows how to have fun kids do.

December 15th. Artistry

I wrote this poem a couple of years ago after a particularly beautiful early morning walk in the park.

God's Artistry on a Winter Morning

The frosted morning biting black                                

gives way to opalescent hues
as sparrow, blackbird, wren and tit
begin to tell their morning news.

In distant reaches of the dawn
the winter sun begins to speak
his memories of warmer days
when he was young in strength and heat

The trees, undressed save for the frost,
in bitter rows resent the cold,
hibernating till the day
when spring once more her green unfolds.

How quickly is the night time past;
the moon, however, full and bright
is not so keen to go to sleep
and vies with sun to give her light.

And now the clouds are tinged with pink
the town awakes to do its duty
so many tardy waking souls
have missed this gift of winter beauty.

God is such an artist.  And not just in the wonderful things He puts in front of us each and every day - the scenery, the face of a loved one, the beauty of the sky and the sea and the marvellous creativity of people.   He is an artist in the way He weaves all of that together into something we don't yet understand because we only see in part.

I was driving the other day when I started to get the impression of someone painting, using a small brush to put hundreds of tiny strokes on a canvas.  Each stroke was a slightly different colour and texture, carefully placed by the artist.  But the whole picture was not evident - it was impossible to tell what it was going to be.  And I felt as though God was saying that every human being who has ever existed has been like a daub of paint on the canvas.  Each one different from the next but each contributing critically to the picture He is painting.  He is painting with purpose and with passion.  The picture He is painting is going to be more breathtakingly stunning than anything we could conceive or imagine.   I think it is something to do with Jesus standing before the Father and saying ' Here I am with the children the Lord has given me' .  Perhaps He is painting a family portrait.  And you and I will be in it along with everyone else who has been adopted through the Holy Spirit by the blood of the babe of Bethlehem.

Dec 14th Homeless

Ive spent a good chunk of this week with a team of people from church renovating a council house for a young couple who have been struggling with some very difficult circumstances and find themselves having to move out of their privately rented house just ten days before Christmas.   Before I met them the only thing I knew was that they were not from the UK and had no family around to support them.  And that they had a young family.     I am ashamed to confess that my first thought was that they would be refugees or migrants from somewhere like Syria, that they probably wouldnt speak English and that they might take the help that we were offering for granted.   I could not have been more wrong.    They are from Spain.  Both speak very good English.  They are employed.   They definitely are deeply grateful for the help we are offering them and are keen to muck in and do whatever they can within the confines of looking after children and working.   They are stressed and overwhelmed by a recent family tragedy followed by a need to move house.  It has been a joy to be able to help them by removing the nicotine of the previous owner from the walls and ceilings with a fresh coat of crisp white paint.

Yesterday afternoon driving home from a stint of painting I heard an article on the news about the dramatic increase in homelessness in the UK.  And it made me think of Jesus being born in a stable and then having to be a refugee in Egypt - presumably with no fixed and permanent home for quite a long time.  And then I realised that not only was Jesus born into a somewhat precarious situation in terms of not having a roof over His head, but He actually chose to be homeless as an adult.

I wonder why He decided to live a wandering, homeless life.  Presumably He didn't need to do that.  He could have lived in one place and travelled back and forth. Commuted  😊  But it seems He chose to wander the highways and byways, staying on friend's sofas, falling asleep in boats.  As I pondered this today I had a sudden thought.  Maybe having a home wasn't important to Jesus.  And perhaps it shouldn't be as important to us as it has become over recent years.

Here in the UK home ownership is still the goal of most people and renting is somehow seen as a ' less good option'.  Being in local authority housing is seen by many as being almost shameful.  And being homeless is, of course, deemed to be terrible and tragic.  Where did such a ridiculous hierarchy of value judgements come from?   Why should it be better to be up to your neck in mortgage debt than living simply in a caravan with no debts?   Who dictated that owning property gives status?

It is ironic that I am having these thoughts today as we currently own four properties and a building site and two of those houses are up for sale!!!!   What would I do if God said ' sell everything you have and give it to the poor and follow me into a lifestyle of owning nothing and having nowhere to call home' ?  The heart part of me would want to say ' sure Lord, no problem'.   But the head would really struggle.

Of the four properties we own, three are rented out at below market rents to people who need a home.   We have always considered that providing people with good quality affordable houses is part of our work for God rather than a for-profit business we are running for gain.  ( the fact is we barely seem to break even once mortgage payments and insurances and vacant periods are  covered)  But nevertheless, we have way way way more assets than most people.  Are we storing up treasure on earth?  We certainly are thinking about what we might be leaving our boys into the future.  But is that God's way of thinking or man's ?    Several years ago I remember being super challenged by a friend of mine who had actively rejected saving into a pension plan because he felt God say that He would look after him in his old age and that he should put his trust in Jesus rather than in a pension scheme.  

It's hard isn't it?  This following Jesus thing.  

I've got a friend who is a monk.  He owns nothing.  He receives a very small amount of money from his order so that he can live.  He has spent decades praying for the peace of Northern Ireland and for healing for the sick.  He is an ordinary bloke with lots of human failings but he is anointed and has authority and walks very closely with Jesus.  I wonder if part of the reason his life is so focused and fruitful is because he is totally unhindered by stuff.  

So today I am challenging us all just to have a little think about the things which we prioritise as important.  Especially our homes and our future plans for homes.   Let us bring those things before God and just double check that our attitudes are righteous, that we are not holding onto anything as a ' right',  that we are deeply grateful for what we do have and not envious of what we don't, and that we do not judge anyone as being any better or worse than us because of the house they do or don't live in.

Dec 13th - non conformism

Im doing a course at church at the moment and it involves having to read a whole load of books and then write book reviews.   Tonight I picked up the next one on the list and opened at the first page.

The first page was dedications.  The second and third and fourth pages were 'endorsements' of the book by very well known Christian leaders and authors.  The next two pages were a Foreward written by another eminent church leader and then there was a two page introduction.  The book proper doesnt start until page 23!!

Am I getting really grumpy and unreasonable in my old age or is there something rather....... umm..... unnecessary about that?  Or worse than unnecessary - actually downright worldly?
The guy who wrote the book is a very well known Christian leader.  Pastor of a huge church, leader of a movement.  I am quite prepared to believe that he has written an interesting and informative book.   But three pages of his mates telling me what a wonderful book it is going to be before Ive even hit the first page...... what's that about?  Surely if it is a good book it will speak for itself.  And surely what is really important is that God speaks to me through this book - no amount of anyone telling me what a great book it is will dictate whether God sees fit to speak to me through it.

Am I being unreasonable or am I justified in being a tad disappointed?

I feel the same way about ' womens meetings'.   I bristle when I walk into a room which is full of candles and flowers and tables strewn with dainty nic nacks.  Do I really go to a church meeting to have my girliness pandered to?  Or do I go to hear the word of God and worship Him and fellowship with fellow warriors and dragon slayers?   😊 

It seems to me that it is SO easy to be infected by the spirit of the age.  To become culturally indistinguishable from the rest of the world.   There is such a fine line to be drawn between being culturally relevant and being both in the world and of it.  As Im getting older Im more and more convinced that we need to be setting the cultural agenda not conforming to it.  Think back a few generations and Christians were at the forefront of the arts, music, invention, medicine , exploration....just about everything in fact.   Now it seems we are lamely trailing behind the world.  Scared to offend. Believing the psychobabble.    Oh dear.  I really am being a bit of a grinch today.  Sorry.

Now Ive got all that off my chest I shall get back to page 24 and see if this book is going to inspire me to be more like Jesus.  I shall let you know in due course .