God's zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday! I'm not big on anti-evolution (who cares how God made it?); but how can anyone look at the wierd and wonderful animal kingdom and not admit there is a beautiful and creative God?

There were information signs up everywhere saying how much people are just the same as animals and stuff like that; why can't we just enjoy them for what they are?

A new Christian

Had a great conversation with my brother this week. Turns out that he and my sis-in-law know a Hindu-background couple through NCT classes 2 years ago. The wife has been coming along to a few church things, notably Christianity Explored, and recently asked my sis-in-law to baptise her, immediately, on her confession of faith! The result was my sis-in-law baptising her in the paddling pool, I think with a few others there. What a great story! It inspired me about my own contacts with people who don't trust in Jesus. I should be more confident to say things like "you know I'm a christian. What do you think about it?" and that sort of thing. Having confidence in what I believe and knowing that even if I don't have all the answers, God does. And GREAT of my sis-in-law not to have hang-ups about baptism and what's "allowed". We need to pray for the Hindu hubby now, that as a family they would be living with Jesus as their king.

The Hurt Locker

Last night, Martyn, Jonathan and me watched 'The Hurt Locker'. Brilliant film. One tragic line:

Sambourne says to James, 'How do you do it? How do you keep putting your life on the line day after day?' (Or words to that effect.) James replies: 'I guess I don't think about it.'

People were dying all the time in Iraq - and still in Afghanistan. How can you not think about it?! To suddenly die and face eternity; no turning back then! Isn't it mad that soldiers like that are willing to die but don't think about it, whilst Christians know exactly what the future holds beyond death, and have a 'sure and certain hope'... and yet we're not so ready to die?

This film made me just want to say to people, 'It is possible to think about it - and still face death!'

Dust and Baobabs

Psalm 1, this coming Sunday: I've found the division almost sickening! That's the choice in life: - chaff, or a great tree, depending whether you're with Christ or against him.

Did you know, there are Baobab trees estimated to be 5000 years old? Some are so fat they take more than 30 people holding hands to reach round them. Roots have been found two miles from the nearest trunk. But chaff: it's just the stuff that blows away; it's worth nothing.

Is that really the truth? A life without Christ is that worthless? Whilst a Christian has something totally solid and rooted. You couldn't get more stark! Sometimes I find the Bible chilling. It's all or nothing. No middle ground.

Keeping focussed

As a Christian - or a church - isn't it easy to lose the passion and drive, and forget what we're about?

I've enjoyed working through the end of Joshua ('The boring bits' - which aren't boring at all!) And I've found it a real encouragement to be reminded of how to stay focussed on the Living God, and not drift into apathy. Remember the 'commitment triangle'?: to stay focussed on serving the Lord means Exclusive commitment, Difficult commitment, and Logical commitment. It makes sense to live all out for him - so no more namby-pambying around for us!

One little thing that might be helpful is to keep setting clear goals. I know there's something a bit false about '5 year plans' and the like, but such things really help us focus on what we're doing. We need to re-think these.

The best for your children

When people think about heaven and hell, quite often I think they're less concerned about themselves than about their loved ones. But what's the best way we can ensure those who are living to end up right with God? It's by making sure we are personally right ourselves.

Here's the question: if I don't bother for myself, will it make my children more or less likely to take him seriously? The kindest thing we can do for other people is work on ourselves - make sure we are living all out for Christ.

"Nothing to Envy - real lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick.

I read this book hungry for information about North Korea. We have some South Korean friends, and know that Christians are some of the most significant players in helping people defect from North to South. We have also heard incredible tales of defectors coming to Christian faith  after their escape, and then heading back into North Korea despite the terrible dangers, desperate to share the gospel with others in this hopeless land.

I was not disappointed with this book. Not written by a Christian believer, but an American journalist, it records some aspects of the "Christian story" of defectors, quite well I think. It is deeply moving. In an age where we take our freedoms for granted, this book reminds us to be grateful for them! In North Korea at the moment is a generation of long-term malnourished and seriously indoctrinated people who, even if they manage to escape, will be unlikely to find life "on the outside" easy or comfortable.

"Dr. Kim (newly arrived in China) pushed open the gate and peered inside. On the ground she saw a small metal bowl with food. She looked closer- it was rice, white rice, mixed with small scraps of meat. Dr. Kim couldn't remember the last time she'd seen a bowl of pure white rice. What was a bowl of rice doing there, just sitting on the ground? She figured it out just before she heard the dog's bark.

Up until that moment, a part of her had hoped that China would be just as poor as North Korea. She still wanted to believe that her country was the the best place in the world. The beliefs she had cherished for a lifetime would be vindicated. But now she couldn't deny what was staring her plainly in the face: dogs in China ate better than doctors in North Korea. "

It gave me a new-founded respect for the leaders of our country, even if they fall short in many ways. We are very, very lucky to be able to get on with our lives, spread the good news about Jesus to those we know, and grow in our faith as individuals and as a church without fear of reprisal from the state.

"I urge, then, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." (1 Timothy 2v1)

Doug's mum...

It was really encouraging on Sunday to hear about Doug's mum, Pat. It seems with desperate ill health, she has finally turned to Christ for help, and put her trust in him. Sometimes God is so gracious he sometimes sends hard circumstances - even terminal illness - to bring us to our senses. Doug has been praying for her for 15 years; at last his prayers have been answered. But who would have thought this is how God would bring about his answer?

A Brief Theology of Sleep

At 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning the world is not dark, but there is no color. Everything is black and white and grey, except for the orange light on the garage across the street that shines through my bedroom window. There is no breeze, and the poplar leaves are caught like a snapshot in stillness. The stars are gone but the sun is not up yet; so you can’t tell if the grey sky is overcast or clear. Very soon we will know.

I sit on the edge of my bed trying to develop a theology of sleep. Why did God design us to need sleep? We sleep a third of our lives. Just think of it: a third of our lives spent like dead men. Just think of everything being left undone that could be done had God not designed us to need sleep. There is surely no doubt that he could have created us with no need for sleep. And just think, everyone could devote himself to two careers, and not feel tired. Everyone could be a “full-time Christian worker” and still keep his job. There is so much of our Father’s business we could be about.

Why did God imagine sleep? He never sleeps! He thought the idea up out of nothing. He thought it up for his earthly creatures. Why! Psalm 127:2 says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved in his sleep.” According to this text sleep is a gift of love, and the gift is often spurned by anxious toil. Peaceful sleep is the opposite of anxiety. God does not want his children to be anxious, but to trust him. Therefore I conclude that God made sleep as a continual reminder that we should not be anxious but should rest in him.

Sleep is a daily reminder from God that we are not God. “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). But Israel will. For we are not God. Once a day God sends us to bed like patients with a sickness. The sickness is a chronic tendency to think we are in control and that our work is indispensable. To cure us of this disease God turns us into helpless sacks of sand once a day. How humiliating to the self-made corporate executive that he has to give up all control and become as limp as a suckling infant every day.

Sleep is a parable that God is God and we are mere men. God handles the world quite nicely while a hemisphere sleeps. Sleep is like a broken record that comes around with the same message every day: Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Don’t let the lesson be lost on you. God wants to be trusted as the great worker who never tires and never sleeps. He is not nearly so impressed with our late nights and early mornings as he is with the peaceful trust that casts all anxieties on him and sleeps.

In quest of rest,

John Piper
© Desiring God
http://www.desiringgod.org/

Now, or not yet?

One of the dangers of reading Joshua, as we have been doing, is in working out how it applies to us. Joshua could just "claim the land" that God had promised him. We must remember how that works out for us as the Bible unfolds.

For us, the "promised land" is our eternal home, the new creation (eg 1 Peter 1:4). Keeping our hopes fixed there guards us from some common errors:

• we're not working for "success" here, as if our church were what mattered; we're working for God's kingdom.
• we're not to expect perfection here; we have joy as we look forward to what we will have. This life is to make us more godly (through hardships, usually); the life to come will be "rest".
• we're not to give up. If we have false expectations, we'll lose hope.
• we're not to look for glory now. The pattern of the Christian life is: the cross now, glory to follow. We haven't yet got our promised land to enjoy, but we're working towards it.