Her Name was Veronica

Today I met an elderly lady at a church I was preaching at.

This is her story.

As a younger woman, she was in hospital, ill, near death. Her husband was in the process of leaving her with three children to take care of. Her illness led to her becoming isolated, alone. After years of poor living, bad choices and hurting this woman, a struggling mother, she was left scared and desperate in the house.

Her husband threatened to take her children from her, as she was emotionally and mentally ruined. Veronica was a wreck of a person, and this is the wreck Jesus met.

One day when out of the house, accompanied by a nurse, a kind lady spoke to her. She asked, would you like for the minister to visit you?

“I’d like that” she replied
“Where is it that you live”
“I… I don’t know where I live”

The nurse confirmed this, and proceeded to give this kind lady Veronica’s address.

This brief… almost insignificant exchange was revolutionary.

The pastoral visit was straightforward. They came and shared the message of Jesus, that all our sins could be forgiven through him.

‘What, even me?”
“Most certainly, you can be accepted by God too, through Jesus”
“Well, it can’t mess my life up any more than it is already”

And with that, the Lord took Veronica by the hand, loving, guiding, comforting. She was baptised at a local church, and the Lord worked through her to see 37 more people baptised in the next 2 years.

A little old lady named Veronica spoke to me, a month after her husband had departed this world. Jesus Christ had become her treasure and her great reward. This woman, closer than I to the veil of eternity, knew what it meant to be captivated by Jesus in all things.

She blessed me in more ways than I could ever put into words here.

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The God who redeems sin

Today, I sinned.

I sin every day, but today I was especially aware that I had committed sin, since it was a sin I know to be wrong. I was aware of the wrongness and evil of my actions throughout. Yet the action seemed so natural, so hard to not do. Everyone else does it, so why can’t I?

I wonder if this was the sentiment of the people of God at Mount Sinai.

God saved the people from slavery in Egypt. He brought them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Then he defeats the Egyptian army and leads them to Mount Sinai. God gave his people the law so they could live for him.

God comes and meets them at the mountain and delivers the 10 commandments (Previous reflections on). All the people hear God deliver these, and then Moses goes to receive the rest of the law.

But 40 days later. 6 weeks after agreeing to the Commandments, the people have already broken them:

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ”Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, ”These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. (Exodus 32:1-6)

Commandment number 2, specifically. The one which says ‘no’ to worshipping statues and ‘no’ to calling them God. Read the rest of this entry »

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The God who reveals himself

I’ve been reading through Exodus for the past couple of weeks, as part of my bible in a year plan.

Moses asks God to reveal himself, and this is what the Lord said, as he passed in front of Moses:

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6)

I’m gonna spend a while reflecting on what that means.

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99 Balloons – God gives, God takes

Jon Acuff posted this on his site

They key verse is Job 1:21:

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

What do you think?

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Born again, again

It happened again. You know, that thing.

I don’t know what it is for you, but for me it’s always that one thing which seems to be the measure of my faith. If I do this thing, or don’t do that thing, then I know I’m a Christian. I know I’m saved.

But I failed again. I did that act or thought that thought or didn’t do that thing I was supposed to do.

And so, I know I must again pray:

Dear God, forgive me.
I’m sorry for failing you.
Help me not do do it again, please be near me now

Amen

I’ve memorised several of these prayers and I cycle them round each time I fail God. I pray them fairly often. I come to Christ to be forgiven and receive new birth, again.

What about you? I spend vast amounts of my time feeling like a failure, failing God, failing the expectations of others and failing my expectations of myself.

I just don’t want to do that one thing anymore! Read the rest of this entry »

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Lessons in Honesty

Struggling? Been praying for change? God has finally heard my cry.

Here’s how it worked for me:

“Hey dude, can we talk”

“Sure”

(Later)

“I’ve been really struggling with X”

“Thank you so much for sharing that, I’ve been really struggling with Y”

“Can we talk about X and Y more often”

“That would be amazing”

“Let’s pray”

The conversation was amazing. The Lord draws near as we open ourselves to each other, as God seems to glorify himself most when we humble ourselves beyond what is comfortable.

This is what God has done for me tonight. He heard my prayers.

He is good.

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People Management in the Wilderness

In my country, I have the privilege of having a Bible in my own language, and have no problem getting my hands on one. God is good.

A few months ago, I realised that I had no excuse not to read this book. I mean, I am a fairly fast reader and 20 minutes a day really isn’t a great cost. So when I go over myself, I committed myself to read the Bible every day. In fact I’m on track to get through the Bible in a year. If you’ve never done this, I’d recommend it. It’s a wonderful discipline and frankly the only discipline I have enough self control to actually put into practice. I follow this reading plan which you can download into your favourite calendar application.

So at the moment I’m halfway through Exodus and loving it. In case you’ve never read the Bible, it’s a thrilling story. Human beings have messed it up big time, But God chooses this guy called Abraham (Genesis 12) and through him decides that all that bad stuff is going to be undone. The part of the story I’m up to now is a few centuries later, when Abraham has become the nation of Israel, who were slaves in Egypt. But God decides to demonstrate his character by saving this nation, and bringing them out of Egypt.

Then they spend a lot of time wondering in the middle of nowhere.

After Egypt, the people are in the wilderness somewhere between Egypt and Palestine.

It’s a great story.

Moses is the hero, who leads the people out of Egypt, who stretches out his hand and parts the sea, who hits a rock and fresh water comes out. He of course became the leader of the people.

But Moses forgets that he’s not the hero of the story. God is.

This guy called Jethro watches Moses judge all the people. Moses decided things for the people when they had an issue. And Jethro, in what must be an almighty flash of common sense, says ‘What you are doing is not good’ (Ex 18:17). Moses is going to burn himself out.

Additionally, nowhere before this point has God actually given the people any laws, yet Moses says he makes known the laws of God.

But this isn’t how it works in God’s community.

Moses gets a bunch of guys he can trust, and sets them up as elders over the people to encourage them to obey God. But what to obey?

The 10 commandments are famously dictated to the people from a mountain top. Why? So that all people would know that God is bigger than one man, God is bigger than our ideas. And he shows that no one gets a special privilege. Everybody gets the chance to hear what God says.

I find it interesting that God gives his laws AFTER Moses sets up these leaders. Literally the next chapter, God speaks to the people.

It’s like God is saying ‘This is me, this isn’t Moses’ ‘I’m your hero, I’m your king, I’m your rescuer and your love.’

The elders and decision makers exist to hold people accountable to a law they have all heard. They don’t get to make it up.

God is so committed to his people that he sets up this system where people can ask questions and have help in applying his laws to their lives. That’s his grace.

I wonder if I have those around me who will encourage me to obey God. It’s not about people telling me their best ideas, but examining the scriptures and honestly holding my life in that light. I ask God for such men and women in my life, and thank God for those he has given me.

People management in God’s community is not about good ideas, but about honestly seeking to obey him in all things.

Glory to his name.

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On Being Different

A friend of mine came out with this the other day.

‘Being different is something amazing, its not a punishment…
because then people notice you,
and look at why you’re different and question themselves
it has its own reward’
What do you think?
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Here I pitch my tent

Today, at college, we spent the day in quiet reflection. We were asked to reflect on what we wanted to ‘build’ for God this semester, and then make it out of clay.

I’m not the best clay sculptor, and so I made a simple teepee. It wasn’t very good and it fell flat a few times, but you know? I kind of liked it. It reminded me that I’m not really the best person in the world.

Here’s a poem I wrote:

Here I pitch my tent
It’s not very good
Strength is not it’s pride
Not many will find it comfortable

Yet here I pitch my tent
And if ‘here’ should fail
And my tent comes down
Why be concerned? It’s just a tent

Here I pitch my tent
Exposed
Open
For all to see

Here I pitch my tent
Pitch yours with me

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Deadline Prayer

May the Lord honour the work
I have done in his name

May he bless my endeavour
As I have sought his will

May he grant me peace
and rest from this work

For after the Lord’s work, he rested
And I shall rest with him.

Lord, I trust my cares into your hands.

And acknowledge that I have reached my limits.

Glorify your name, do what I cannot do.
And give me the gift of rest, true trust in you.

In Christ’s name

Amen

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