Miracle

A little story for those of us who cry out to God for miracles and get frustrated when it seems He doesn't do what we ask...


There came a big flood, and the water around Bhola's house was rising steadily..

Bhola was standing on the porch, watching water rising all around him, when a man in a boat came along and called to Bhola, "Get in the boat and I'll get you out of here. Bhola replied, "No thanks, God will save me."

Bhola went into the house, and the water was starting to pour in. So, he went up to the second floor.

As he looked out, another man in a boat came along, and he called to Bhola, "Get in the boat and I'll get you out of here."

Again, Bhola replied, "No thanks. God will save me."

The water kept rising. So, Bhola got out onto the roof.

A helicopter flew over, and the pilot called down to Bhola, "I'll drop you a rope,grab onto it, and I'll get you out of here."

Again Bhola replied, "No thanks. God will save me."

The water rose and rose, and soon nearly covered the whole house. Bhola fell in, and drowned.

When he arrived in Heaven, he saw God, and asked Him, "Why didn't you save me from that terrible flood? Did I not show you my faith?"

With a loving but irritated tone God replied, "What more would you have me do? I sent people in two boats and a helicopter?"



C.S. Lewis puts it as follows:

We can perhaps, conceive of a world in which God corrected the results of abuse of this free will...; a wooden beam would become as soft as grass when it became a weapon, and the air would refuse to obey me if I attempted to set up in it the sound waves that carry insults. But such a world would become one in which wrong actions would be impossible, and in which, therefore, freedom of the will would be void... All matter in the neighbourhood of an evil man would be liable to undergo unpredictable alterations. That God can and does, on occasions, modify the behaviour of matter and produce miracles is part of the Christian faith; but the very conception of a... stable world demands that these occasions should be extremely rare.

Marital Advice

A friend and work colleague has just separated from her husband after years of marriage. I couldn't think of anything to say, and that's probably for the best - its a tough time, full of hurt and anger, and the last thing needed is facile advice.

But this started me mulling - I've been married 17 years and must surely have some words of wisdom on the subject, and surely enough to fill a post.

But then I realised that you only need to do one thing:

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph 5:21)

Just as our lives work best when we are in Christ, so does marriage work best when it operates in Christ. Submitting to one another is about moving from the initial passionate and child-like Eros love to the more mature sacrificial Agape love. Its about serving each other and being self-less for the sake of our spouses and for the sake of Christ.

Its as simple and as hard as that.

And that's why offering an unbeliever marital advice is so tough.

Happy Christmas!

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Where is everybody?

We have a church membership of around 600 but you wouldn't think so judging from the numbers of people who turn up to do any work.

People are very happy to turn up for a worship-fest and an encouraging (but not too challenging) sermon, but prayer meetings? youth work? outreach? humble labour? in fact anything remotely inconvenient ... then everybody is busy.

I am reminded of Jesus' words: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." (Mt 9:37)

Life

Right, here's the deal. Sometimes in life you hit that solid immoveable wall which is the limits of your ability. There is no sense bemoaning the fact that life has dealt you a raw deal, that its unfair, just face it, get on with the things you can do.

Today I think I hit my wall.

I've mentioned before that I have a stammer. Today in my job interview I was made aware yet again that whilst I may have had a brilliant presentation to give, full of stunningly persuasive content, there is the little matter of delivery. It is an unfortunate truth that there are many people out there who value form over substance, and this is particularly true in the field of consultancy where everything is about form and the delivery.

I had a very frank chat with my interviewer, laid my cards on the table, and asked "Do you think I could be a consultant with my stammer?" He was bit taken aback but was quite honest. The reality remains. As wrong as it is, in consultancy perception is everything. I may be competent, but if I don't look it, then all is lost. But he really liked my presentation, the fresh message etc. Gee, thanks.

Is it just, is it fair? No. Is it understandable? I suppose. Do I like it? No!!! Can I do anything? I've had years of speech therapy, spent many an hour on my knees to God, even had the elders in my church pray for me whilst annointing my head with oil. I don't know what else to do. Accept it?

I have been facing my stammer all my life, facing my fears, but tonight I feel tired and frankly a little p'd off. What more do I do? I pray, I prepare, I go in the strength of the Lord, then I stammer.

End of rant. I'm going to watch some TV with my girls.

Rejection

I'm job hunting at the moment. Its a long story, but the company I've worked for the last 12 or so years has joined the outsourcing game and is farming out my role to India. They've kindly offered me another role, but even more kindly offered me a redundancy package. I've opted for the latter because its time for a change, time to shake up my comfort zone a bit, time to move on.

So I have until the end of January before I am officially unemployed.

I'm a software architect by trade and have fortunately got fairly current skills, so the interviews have been coming through at a fair rate. The problem is that I have also had a couple rejections, and to make it worse, they were jobs I really fancied and thought I was suited to.

Its not nice being rejected.

I'm someone who struggles anyway with feelings of inadequacy and being rejected is tough. Immediately thoughts of "What's wrong with me?" surface. Negative thoughts that threaten to drag me down into familiar dark places, but I won't let them take hold, I don't entertain them for one minute.

More interviews tomorrow, one requiring me to give a presentation to a pretend CIO convincing them why his company needs a Service Oriented Architecture. He does of course, and I have a fine presentation to give, but those thoughts hover. "They rejected you because you stammer. Nothing you can do about that. Hah! You're worthless after all."

But, thank God, I'm not. New creation, me. Man of God. He is my Rock and my Shepherd and my Strength.

That's not a cop out, a pipe dream of a worthless human being clutching at an imaginary Divinity. Its the True perspective. I am special, not because of what I do, but because I am created as the unique bundle of qualities, faults and experiences that is me. He loves me because I'm me. I have worth because I am me.

New Blog!

I have decided to stop being silly on this blog and move all such silliness to my new blog which is all about my very interesting life and the things I find. Whooopeeee! I expect a readership of one, i.e. me, but at least this here blog will return to its slightly more serious form of considering random things of the True Vine.

Happy Christmas?

Christian, do you feel guilty for celebrating Christmas?

Don't you know that it is linked to the pagan festival held by the Romans on December 25 called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun"?

Feeling uncomfortable? No? Well then how about this from Jeremiah 10:1ff?

Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter."


Its Christmas time and along with all the traditional festivities we have a group of naysayers who say that Christmas is un-Biblical, a pagan festival. I'd heard all that before but must confess that the Jeremiah verse above is a new one to me.

So I feel a little uncomfortable. I have a splendid Christmas tree in my lounge, a beautifully decorated house, twinkling lights in the garden, cards from my friends hanging everywhere, wrapped gifts, a turkey in the freezer, and two very excited little girls. What am I to make of this?

This reminds me of a time when I was at a work conference in London. I had some time over lunch and wandered into Westminster Abbey looking for a quiet place to pray and munch my sandwich. It was absolutely beautiful and awe inspiring but needless to say heaving with tourists, so I went across the road to the the Methodist Central Hall. I found a chapel to pray in, essentially a large unadorned room with wooden benches and neon lights. It struck me vividly that whilst the Reformation has done some great things it certainly has chucked out the baby with the bathwater. We've lost a rich Christian heritage in our effort to get back to our true roots. What's wrong with a bit of smells and bells, a bit of mood setting? When my wife and I go out for a romantic dinner we don't go to MacDonalds, we go somewhere with some atmosphere (and better food!) Why does church have to be different? I have a friend who does the sound at our church and he comments, perhaps slightly cynically, that the numher of hands that go up is linked more to how loud he turns up the bass player than a move of the Spirit! Humans need atmosphere to help us respond.

So I honestly don't know what to make of all the anti-Christmas rhetoric. It really seems much ado about nothing. Assuming the roots of the festival are dubious, does it really matter? I'm celebrating the birth of Jesus this month as are many of my non-Christian friends. Its a time of good will and compassion, and it even gives me an opportunity to send people cards containing little verses of Scripture, without embarassment to either party!? That has to be a good thing surely?

While I'm mulling this over, here is another perspective that disputes the pagan origins theory:

Many Christians think that Christians celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25th because the church fathers appropriated the date of a pagan festival. Almost no one minds, except for a few groups on the fringes of American Evangelicalism, who seem to think that this makes Christmas itself a pagan festival. But it is perhaps interesting to know that the choice of December 25th is the result of attempts among the earliest Christians to figure out the date of Jesus’ birth based on calendrical calculations that had nothing to do with pagan festivals.

Rather, the pagan festival of the “Birth of the Unconquered Son” instituted by the Roman Emperor Aurelian on 25 December 274, was almost certainly an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians. Thus the “pagan origins of Christmas” is a myth without historical substance.

Have a wonderful Christmas, folks, or whatever else it is you plan to do while the rest of us are celebrating the fact that God became one of us because He cares.

Friendship

Lauren at Faith Fuel has awarded me the Colours of Friendship award. Notice how I've resisted the temptation to correct the spelling... ;-)



Thank you Lauren for honouring me with this. Let's spread the love, folks!!

I have many that I would call friend in the blogosphere, but I would like to pass the award on to the following:

• Josey at Silly Go Lucky
  
• BobbyK
  

From the mouths of babes

A remarkable phone call from a 12-yr old boy to Houston radio station KSBJ FM 89.3. So profound, the station has it posted on their website. I must confess I find the way the conversation has been presented a bit twee for my taste but I encourage you to look beyond that.



Thanks to Bobby K for sending me this.

Footprints in the sand

Many of us will be familiar with the "Footprints in the sand" poem. Here is an amusing (and challenging) variant I found...

Buttprints In The Sand

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord,"What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat."
But Lord, they are too big for feet."
"My child," He said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."
"You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up.
And there I dropped you on your butt."
"Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand."

God on Mute

A quote from a book I'm reading, "God on Mute" by Pete Greig.

"It never occurred to me to question God's doings while I was an inmate of Auschwitz, although of course I understand that others did. If someone believes God is responsible for the death of six million because he didn't somehow do something so save them, he's got his thinking reversed. We owe God our lives for the few or many years we live, and we have a duty to worship him."

Its a wonderful book by the way, if you're struggling with the issues of suffering and unanswered prayer. It draws on his personal experience as well as that of great minds such as C. S. Lewis.

Christmas Spirits

This weekend, apart from the usual manic activities such as driving children to dance classes and preparing to lead the music group at church, involved putting up Christmas decorations and attending a seminar on Prophecy.

A prophecy seminar?? This is a bit unlike you, Robert!?

Yes, but I have for the last 2 years had a nagging inkling that I might have a leaning that way, a spiritual "gifting" if you like, and this has been strengthened at various time by things people have said to me.

So I didn't comb my hair this morning, came into work wearing animal skins and packed a lunch of yummy locusts.

Not really. ;-)

I learnt that prophecy is simply speaking the Word of God into people's lives, and that "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy." (Acts 2:17)

So here's the thing. Prophecy requires the Spirit.

Now I believe I have the indwelling of the Spirit, and having come to faith in a conservative Christian church, even believed at first that the whole business of spiritual gifts such as tongues and prophecy etc was for those days alone.

Now I'm not so sure. There's a lot of what I call "Whooooooo" stuff going around, and some of it by eminently sensible people, and I don't want to miss out!

But no matter how hard I try to make myself open to God, to get up every day at the crack of dawn to pray, to go up to be prayed for by anyone who seems to "have it", to have raving lunatics slap me on the head as they shout gobbledey-gook, nothing happens.

What do you want to happen, Robert?

I dunno, something, anything.

But anyway, apart from the usual lack of "something" this weekend, some of the people who prayed for me and had "words" for me, seemed to have an uncanny knack of knowing me intimately, despite being complete strangers...

Whooooooo.......

Competition

My daughter came last in a diving competition yesterday.

Needless to say she was pretty miserable and we tried to console her with "As long as you do your best, that's the important thing", "You've just started learning" etc.

But that got me thinking. What should the Christian stance on competiveness be? Does Mt 19:30 "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." apply? Imagine a Christian race... "No, you go first, I insist!" ;-)

I used to be a very good chess player and took great delight in demolishing my opponents, and making them squirm in the process, but when I became a Christian those feelings seemed out of place and I stopped playing competition chess. Not saying chess is unchristian, just my relish of the defeat of my opponents.

I reckon the "give it your best" line is closest to the truth. What matters is how God views you, not where you come in a competition. Col 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

I gave my daughter a big cuddle and told her she was brilliant - that seemed to help a bit.

Huh?

Josey at Silly Go Lucky tagged me with this fun meme. It involves doing some mini quizzes and posting the results, as well as writing down seven things about myself. Some of the quiz results are surprising yet accurate.

And before I forget, I forward this meme to my friend Adullamite who will hate me for this but its good for him.

First, seven things you didn't know about me:

• I'd love to play blues harmonica.
  
• I'm not always sure I have the Holy Spirit.
  
• My wife drives me nuts with her love for change.
  
• I'm looking for a new job.
  
• I have a very expensive mountain bike gathering dust in my garage.
  
• My parents are classical musicians.
  
• I once in a flash of misguided inspiration decided it would be a good idea to cremate our dead hamster on our BBQ.
  

And the quiz results are....

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Yep, though I don't believe it most of the time.

Your Superpower Should Be Manipulating Electricity

You're highly reactive, energetic, and super charged. If the occasion calls for it, you can go from 0 to 60 in a split second. But you don't harness your energy unless you truly need to. And because of this, people are often surprised by what you are capable of. Why you would be a good superhero: You have the stamina to fight enemies for days Your biggest problem as a superhero: As with your normal life, people would continue to underestimate you

What Should Your Superpower Be?

Scary this one. Lazy to the core, but when I get going then watch out world!

You Belong in Los Angeles

Whether you'll admit it or not, a huge part of you likes being in the spotlight. And you may just have enough star quality to make it big in LA! Even if you don't become famous, you still belong in a place where you can get a year round tan.

Where Does Your Inner Californian Belong?

Hmmm, sun! Born in South Africa so sun and blue skies are definitely for me. As for wanting the spotlight, yes, in a reserved sort of way! :-/

Your English Skills:

Punctuation: 100% Vocabulary: 100% Grammar: 80% Spelling: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

Grrr, my speeeling is better than dat.

You Are Paper

Crafty and creative, you are able to adapt freely to almost any situation. People tend to underestimate you, unless they've truly seen what you are capable of. Deep down, you're always scheming and thinking up new plans. Your mind is constantly active. You are quite capable of anything you dream of. You can always figure out a way to get what you want. You can wrap a rock person up in your sheet of trickery. A scissor person can sneak up and cut you to pieces. When you fight: No one can anticipate your next move If someone makes you mad: You'll attack them mercilessly when they're unprepared

Are You Rock, Paper, or Scissors?

Nah. This one's way off in some respects. I am creative, underestimated and easily cut up though.

You Are Not Destined to Rule the World

You are destined for something else... Like inventing a new type of cupcake. You just don't have the stomach for brutality. But watch out - because many people do!

Are You Destined For World Domination?

Yep, so true.

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

:-D

More awards!?

Wow! I have in the past week received two more awards from fellow bloggers:

The first, from Sicarii at Joie De Vivre is the "Lift Him Up" award created by Carol at The Bible Thumper's Soapbox for “… blogs who focus on the Word of God and practical application. These are bloggers who are open and speak honestly about their concerns and/or struggles, who gives us food for thought using Scriptures, and who have a Biblical world view. Their blogs focus on Christ and His perfect, infallible Word.”

The second, from Fish Hawk at Fish Hawk Droppings is the "Nice Matters" award for “…those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

I am very grateful for these awards, and particularly like the way they have come together because I do strive to lift His name up high and be nice at the same time.

So thank you very much friends.

Now to pass it on and since I think the awards go nicely together, I award them jointly to:

• Casey at Casey's Critical Thinking
  
• Friend In Me at My Pointless
  
• Mike at This I do
  

On being good

For many of us who believe in God and the afterlife, life would seem to be like an exam. Come Judgement Day our lives will be evaluated and we will either pass or fail. The Bible would certainly seem to confirm this and even hints at there being further "grades", e.g. Luke 12:48 "beaten with few blows" and 1 Cor 3:15 "will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames", but these are only hints.

We expect to be rewarded for what we do. Nothing in life is free and eternity should be no exception.

The problem with this view is that the pass mark is too high for all of us. God is absolutely, infinitely good and just like darkness cannot exist in a blazing light, we simply could not exist in His presence - we're just not good enough.

Or could we? What if God offered to make us good enough? He'd of course need to sort out the whole justice thing so that the scoresheet balanced, and it would need to remain our choice, but what if?

Wouldn't that be amazing?

Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found—
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

Thro' many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

And when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

Xmas

Yes, Xmas, not Christmas.

According to the Telegraph newspaper, only one in five UK schools are planning to perform a traditional nativity this year, with half of those intending to put on modern reinterpretations of the the Christmas story, with extra characters, new songs and modern themes, such as The Bossy King, Whoops-a-Daisy Angel or The Hoity-Toity Angel. One of my colleagues' children is going to be a lobster this year!

Why?

Because the UK is culturally diverse and we musn't offend must we? And because frankly, practising Christians in the UK have become a minority group.

Its a stunning day outside, with blue skies and a bright sun shining through frosty trees. Christmas is near and its a time to be celebrating the birth of our Lord, but not around here I guess. :-(