The Wrong Shall Fail.... the Right Prevail...

On Christmas day of 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received the news that his son Charles Appleton Longfellow had suffered wounds as a soldier in the Battle of New Hope Church Virginia during the Mine Run Campaign. On this day he penned the words of a poem titled “Christmas Bells”. Only two years prior he had also suffered the loss of his wife as a result of an accident by fire. The poem originally contained seven stanzas but was reduced to five when constructed into the carol we have come to know “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.

Below are but three of the stanzas of this beautiful poem......

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:

"There is no peace on earth," I said,

"For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men."

Equality..... by disempowerment...

There is a lot of talk today in Christian circles about social justice and the emancipation of the oppressed. We preach about the elimination of oppression and the empowerment of the down trodden. All of this seems to me to be a good thing and in keeping with the message of the Gospel, and yet I can’t help but wonder if we are sometimes so focused on the liberation of others, that we forget that often it is we who need liberating ourselves.
Jesus had an interesting take on the whole concept of emancipation. He seemed to speak more about becoming a servant than he did about trying to free oneself from being one. We put a huge emphasis on equality, on giving people back their rights and re-establishing their status in the attempt to make all men equal. But Jesus take was almost the reverse. He was effectively saying, “what if we all gave up our rights.? What if we all became slaves.? What if we all became willing to serve.? What if we all became dispossessed of our rights and power.? What if we all became indebted to one another.? Surely if we all became slaves, then would not all men be be equal.?
We focus on giving ourselves rights. Jesus focused on giving up his rights.We focus on having power. Jesus focused on letting go of power.We focus on stepping up. Jesus focused on stepping down.

Now don’t misunderstand me, I am not suggesting that we all become poverty stricken and put ourselves into positions where we are mercilessly oppressed by others. But I just can’t help but wonder if that in all of our worthy endeavours to “set the captives free”, that we often fail to realise that sometimes it is we who need liberating ourselves, and that by shifting our focus to that of becoming the servant, and by shifting our emphasis to that of one who is willing to let go of our right to power, that we might then not only be more effective at liberating others, but that we would also know the freedom of being liberated ourselves. And that we would begin to see as Jesus did, that there is a liberty to be found in stooping down, that is not always found by stepping up. And that sometimes the way to bring about equality is not in pulling others up to sit alongside us in our position of pride and power. But by stooping down ourselves, and sharing our abundance with the spirit of a servant, amongst those who often already have a better understanding of Jesus concept of freedom than we do ourselves. And in doing so, we just might find that we have brought about a little more of the kind of equality that Jesus was looking for.

John 13
Jesus rose up from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. He poured water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done for you?
You call me Master and Lord: and you speak correctly; for this is exactly who I am.
So if I then, being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; then you also should wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, and you should do the same as I have done to you.

Take these bones with you...

In the past 20 years or so, it seems to me that there has been a big emphasis particularly at church leadership conferences and the like, on setting goals and having short term and long term plans for the future. I’ve heard speakers say things like “if you want to be successful (their definitions of this word are often uncertain) then you need to have at least a 5 year plan and a 10 year plan”. Some have even suggested the need for a 20-25 year plan.
Now as much as there is an element of truth to all of this, I can’t help but wonder if it is much more important to have a 500 year plan.!!

I mean take Joseph for example, as he comes to the end of his life, he has already lived to the ripe old age of 110, and yet he is still looking several hundred years forward to the day when Israel leaves Egypt for good, and so he instructs his family that when that time comes, he wants them to carry his bones away with them. Now that’s what I call a long term plan.!!

Genesis 50:25 NIV
And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."

Joseph was looking forward and had plans for the future that went hundreds of years beyond his own lifetime.
There are a couple of things that strike me as being particularly pertinent about this concept.
Firstly, Joseph wasn’t just thinking about himself and his needs in the here and now. Most of our plans whether for the next 5 years or even 10 years are all about us. We are thinking ahead and making plans so that we will be better off in the years ahead. But Joseph wasn’t even going to be around to physically see his plans come to fruition. And even though he had commanded his family to take his bones with them, I don’t think it was just for his own benefit. It was for theirs. He knew that in order for his children to have a long term vision, they would also need to remember the past. They needed to remember where they came from. They needed to remember their roots, and not just look forward to what the future could give them. Looking back brings a balance to looking forward. It reminds us that it has cost something to get to where we are now. Others have gone before us and paid a price. It’s not all about us.
Secondly, Joseph understood the power of the prophetic. When he commanded his children to take his bones with them, he was prophesying into the future. He was encouraging his children and their children after them to believe and to trust. In effect, Joseph saw the future, and he was trying to get his sons to see it as well. He was trying to get his sons to see the bigger plan that was behind all that had taken place. There was more to their lives and their existence than just shearing sheep every day. God had a plan, a master plan, and it was not just a 5 year or a 10 year plan. God had an eternal plan, and they were an integral part of it. There was going to come a day when they would leave Egypt, and when they did it would be significant, and it would be momentous, and when that momentous day came, he wanted them to be as much a part of it as he intended to be himself.

Pedro's onions....

In the shady corner of the great market in Mexico City sits an old Indian man named Pedro. He has twenty strings of onions hanging in front of him for sale. An American businessman from Chicago comes up to him and says: “How much for a string of onions.?”
“Ten cents” says Pedro.

“How much for two strings.?”
“Twenty cents” is the reply.
“Well, how much for three strings” asks the American.
“Thirty cents” Pedro answers.
“Not much reduction in that” says the American, “would you take twenty five cents.?”
“No” says Pedro.
“How much for the whole twenty strings” says the businessman.
“I will not sell you my twenty strings” says the old Indian.
“Why not” says the American, “aren’t you here to sell your onions.?”
“No, I am not here to sell my onions” says Pedro, “I am here to live my life. I love the market, I love the sounds, I love the smells. I love to have Chico and Luis come by and call out “Buenas dias” and I love to listen as they tell me about their lives, about how their crops are doing and how their families are managing. I love to speak with my friends, I love to listen as Maria comes by to tell me about her children while they laugh and play around me, for this is my life and this is why I sit here all day and sell my twenty strings of onions. But if I sell all of my onions to one customer, then is my day come to an end and I will have sold my means to living the life that I love. I would not be selling you my onions, I would be selling you my life, and that I just will not do.”
(Erwin McManus)

This story says a lot about living life in such a way as to value community over commerce, and to value the sacred over the secular.
Sometimes we are so busy getting to where we want to be, that we forget to enjoy where we are right in the here and now.
But it also says something about knowing and understanding that “mission” is more important than “vision”.
It is always very helpful for us to have direction in life, to know just where exactly we are headed and how we are going to get there. But what is far more important than knowing where we are going, is knowing the reason for our existence in the first place.
This is the difference between “mission” and “vision”.

Most of us find it relatively easy to know where we are going in the short term, but we struggle to know where we are going in the longer term.
And one of the main reasons for this, is that most of us understand what it is to have "vision", but all too often we mistake "vision" for "mission".!!
But "vision" and "mission" are two totally different things.
Mission is not so much about where we are going, as it is about why we exist. For Pedro….vision was about selling onions, but mission was about living life in community.
Vision comes and vision goes.
Mission never changes.
Vision gives us new directions to take, and enables us to achieve many great things, but mission gives us reason and purpose for being involved in the visions of our life and gives us the strength and passion to complete them and find a sense of fulfilment in them.
You can have vision and still be completely void of mission.
Vision is about knowing where we are going, but mission is about knowing why we are going where we are going, and why we are doing what we are doing. The mistake we usually make often without realising it, is to define our mission by our vision. We get all excited about some new venture or some new project that we are taking on, it may be a new house, a new car, a new job, a new baby or a new ministry, and then what tends to happen all too often is we begin to define our mission by whatever direction that new venture is taking us.
We change our priorities and redefine our lives around the new vision that we have, when what we should be doing is defining our Vision around our Mission in life.
What’s your reason and purpose for selling onions..?

Of funerals and baptisms....

I haven’t been to too many funerals, but I’ve been to enough to know that no matter how terrible a life the deceased person has lived, nonetheless, when it is time for the eulogy, only nice things are said about even the most nasty of people. What they always leave out during the eulogy at the funerals that I have attended, are the skeletons in the closet. (excuse the pun)
They never seem to tell us about the problem that the deceased had had in their lifetime with this thing called sin. I have never heard a friend or family member stand up at a funeral and declare that no matter how hard the deceased had tried, they just never seemed to be able to be the kind of person they really wanted to be because of the problem of sin. They always leave out the bit about, how, that during the deceased lifetime, they knew that they constantly struggled with evil thoughts and bad attitudes. They never seem to mention how that they were unable to control their temper or come to terms with the bitterness that everyone knew they had nurtured towards anyone that had ever let them down.
And they never mention that even when the deceased had done good deeds for other people, they never really did it out of a pure motive, but rather because they loved to be recognised for what they did and took great pride in their own ability and in their own achievements. At funerals it seems that regardless of the kind of life one has lived, the dead are praised, their lives are lauded as glorious and righteous. Sometimes they may make brief mention of the bodily sickness or disease that may have struck them down, but I have never heard mention made about that terrible cancer called sin, which is the real cause of every mans demise.
But last night as I was meditating on just what Water Baptism is all about, I began to wonder what the eulogy would sound like if just before a person entered the waters of Baptism, we held a funeral service for the body. Not the physical body, but that body of sin that is forever working against us and forever resisting the passionate call of God.
That old nature that ruled us before Jesus came into our lives.
Because this is really what water Baptism is all about.
Water Baptism is about a funeral, a disposing of the body.!!
It’s about burying once and for all that fallen nature, that “old man” with all of its wrong desires and lusts. It’s about doing away with that old carnal nature that constantly trips us up and causes us to do that which we do not want to do.
It’s about burying that body of corruption, that body of flesh that keeps us tied to the world and all of its attractions. That body of sin that keeps us from loving our enemies. That body of sin that refuses to let others go first and instead always demands its own way.
Water Baptism is about disposing of that body of sin that always takes confidence in self. That body of sin that is riddled with pride and self righteousness. That body of sin that keeps an account of every wrong done to itself but never seems to keep tally of the wrongs it does to others.
Water Baptism is about putting an end to that body of sin that is controlled by habits and by addictions. It’s about burying once and for all that body of sin that is utterly lost and broken and without hope, and yet in its arrogance and rebellion attempts to pull others down that same road that offers no hope and no future.

But Water Baptism is not only about death and funerals, it’s also about resurrection.
And in scripture Water Baptism is likened not just to any kind of resurrection, but to the very resurrection of Christ Himself. Baptism is not likened to the kind of resurrection that Lazarus experienced, a man who died and came back to life in the same state as he was before, only to have to die once more all over again. But Water Baptism in scripture is likened to the very resurrection of Christ Himself, a man who came back to life totally transformed into a glorified body and never had to face death again.
And that is the spiritual picture of what takes place through the act of Water Baptism. It’s about a resurrection, and resurrection is about a fresh start and a new beginning. It’s about a metamorphosis of the spirit and the soul.
Once the spirit was dead in trespasses and sins, but now it is quickened and made alive in Christ. Baptism is about rising again into a newness of life, a radical transformation that exchanges the old for something new. It’s about coming up out of the water with a new bias, a bias toward righteousness, a bias towards peace, and a bias that is helplessly bent towards the Holy Ghost.
Baptism is about the resurrection of our character and a bringing forth of the fruit of the Spirit. It’s about a resurrection of purpose, a change in direction, a change in lifestyle and a change in culture. It’s leaving the old behind to embrace the new. It’s about taking a hold of our inheritance in Christ and experiencing what it is to be truly free indeed. It’s about a restoration, a restoration of the soul and the renewing of the mind.
It’s about experiencing the life changing power of Gods DNA which has been impregnated into our very spirit by the supernatural power of God.
And finally.....Water Baptism is about a resurrection from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. It’s about the manifestation of the sons of God, it’s about a return to Eden, and it’s about Paradise found.
Water Baptism is about burying the person you once knew, but know no more, to become the person God always intended you to be forevermore.

Outside these walls...

This past year my wife and I were privileged to stay a few nights in the city of San Francisco, and while we were there we made a visit to Alcatraz.
After a short ferry ride, a steep hike up the hill brings you to the main prison cell block where one can take a tour through the corridors and cells of notorious prisoners like Al Capone and “Machine Gun Kelly”.
Alcatraz was made famous in the movies with the story of the escape of Frank Norris and John and Clarence Anglin. These three resourceful characters placed dummy heads made out of soap, cement and paint under their blankets, and in the middle of the night they made their escape through the air-vents of their cells and crawled into the utility corridor that lay between two rows of cells. Climbing up to the roof, they slid down a drain pipe and made their way down to the shoreline where they put together a raft made out of raincoats. They were never seen again and no-one knows to this day if they actually survived the icy waters or drowned in the attempt.
As we walked about the corridors of Alcatraz listening to the many stories that were being told through the tourist headsets, one of the things that left an impression on me was just how close the island actually was from the mainland and the city of San Francisco. Only one and a quarter miles in fact. The view of the city skyline and Golden Gate Bridge are truly impressive, and apparently, this was one of the greatest mental tortures for a prisoner locked away on Alcatraz. From the prison exercise yard a prisoner could see the whole city of San Francisco going about its business in total freedom. On still days, voices would travel across the water. Sometimes, the prisoners could hear the laughter of people partying. Some prisoners had even written down on paper some of the actual conversations that they had heard as the words had come floating across the water. Freedom always seemed so close, and yet it was a lifetime away. Every day they were faced with a visual picture of what it was like to be free if they could only just get outside the walls. To those who were locked up inside for many years, any prisoner that managed to get out or break out, no matter for how short a period of time, was the envy of all inside because the rule of thumb was “if you can get outside the walls, you’re a free man”.
And this is the simple truth that struck me......for the prisoners to be free, they didn’t have to BREAK IN, they had to BREAK OUT.!!
The free world was all around them...... it was the prison walls that kept them bound and locked inside. The walls weren’t there to keep people out, they were there to keep people in. And it seems to me that this is a truth that we so often seem to fail to realise. Gods kingdom is the universal set. Satans is not. The kingdom of darkness is a subset, the Kingdom of God is the superset. To become a part of Gods Kingdom, you don’t have to break in.... you have to break out... of Satans Kingdom. The walls are there to keep people in, not to keep people out. So if you break out, you’re free.!! Get outside the walls of Satans compound and you’re in the kingdom of God where true freedom reigns.!!
Why then, do we so often seem to live as if Gods Kingdom has walls and parapets that are designed to keep us out.? And why is it that we live as if the only people who can get in to Gods Kingdom are the chosen few like Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and our local Pastor.!! The truth is, that every day, the walls of Satans Kingdom are crumbling, they’re falling down, and prisoners are being set free and released into the Kingdom of God. Gods Kingdom has no walls..... and if you’re outside the walls, you’re a free man.!!

No need to clap your hands....

I came across this quote the other day and instantly fell in love with it. "If you're happy and you know it, you don't need to clap your hands".

It is of course a twist on what used to be a great Sunday School song.... "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands", and if my memory serves me correct, I can remember singing this song as a child and readily clapping my hands along with all the other children in my Sunday School class just as instructed, even though the happiness that I was supposed to be expressing was perhaps not of the most authentic kind due to my preference to being off somewhere else, perhaps with my mates playing in the park rather than having to attend Sunday School.
Years later when I became a Sunday School teacher myself, and then a so called leader in the "childrens church" movement, I can recall having to lead children in the singing of this song, and knowing some of the situations these children were facing in their lives at home and at school, I sometimes wondered just how authentic their own happiness really was as they too clapped their hands to this song.

Many years on, I have of course come to realise that happiness is by and large a rather fleeting kind of thing at the best, and is a poor substitute for an inner confidence and contentment regardless of whether one is facing good times or bad. The act of "clapping ones hands", or deliberately exhibiting any form of outward behaviour in order to demonstrate or convince others that you are in fact happy is in most cases going to be the undeniable proof that you are not.
If I am truly secure in who I am, safe in the realisation that I am loved, content in the understanding that God holds my life in His hands, then it is far more likely that there is no need, no requirement and no hunger to have to demonstrate to anyone else that I am in this particular state. I simply rest in it and if it shows, it shows, but there exists no pressure from within to have to prove that I am in fact "happy".
This concept seems to have evaded many “leaders” that I have encountered in church life over the years. I can recall far too many who were always prodding and pressing for people to be participants in their own particular brand of “hand clapping”.
It’s as if they had convinced themselves that if you will just “clap” when instructed, if you will just “repeat after me” or respond to what I am saying by shouting, standing, sitting, raising your hands or waving a flag, then I can assume that you must strongly agree with me and I must therefore be saying something important and this reassures me that I have value as a person.
The prophet Isaiah said... "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength"
Now, I am not suggesting that there is never a time to clap or express some form of joy or happiness, quite the opposite. I believe that if a person is truly content and at peace in themselves, there is bound to be many outward expressions of that joy that will be expressed from time to time. But I also believe that an authentic expression of joy or happiness cannot and should not be measured by ones willingness to “clap” their hands in response to anothers request to do so and neither will it ever be credible evidence that they are in fact happy.
If you’re happy and you know it, you don’t NEED to clap your hands.!!

The awakened man....

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
-Sir Winston Churchill-

Millions of people go to work every day to work for bosses they can’t stand in jobs they don’t like, to earn money they think they can’t live without, to spend on things they don’t need. And as they near the end of their lives they wish they had done something different to have radically changed it all. But the reason they didn’t change it all is because they never truly woke up, they just kept on dreaming and let life pass them by. The challenge before us is to truly awaken to the times in which we live, and commit ourselves to taking charge of life instead of just letting it slowly pass us by. Let every one else live out their lives in quiet desperation, let everyone else sleep on, dreaming of what they would do, if only they weren’t afraid to do it. But while those who dream sleep on, the awakened man is not just breathing but really living, taking charge of his life and writing a little of his own history in the process. Those who dare to awaken will never recover from what they have done.... and they will never want to either.

More than good eyesight....

John 3:3
“Except a man be born again he cannot SEE the kingdom of God”

Seeing requires more than good eyesight.
It requires a shift. A paradigm shift. A new elevation, a different position for a different perspective. With a change in position, one is able to see with the same eyes what was before completely hidden from view. Without such a metamorphosis, seeing is limited to imagination without full context, a blurred image of black and white. We often hear that “seeing is believing”, but this kind of seeing accepts only what is clearly visible in ones fixed line of sight. It leaves no room for that which is easily visible if not restricted to a singularly fixed perspective. If we are to truly see, first we must believe. It is belief that changes our elevation, enabling us to see what before was invisible. It is belief that elevates our perspective, revealing a completely different set of parameters for viewing, opening up 3D, full colour, in real time.
Seeing.... requires more than good eyesight.....

The great reversal...

"Laughter is the happy release of the tension created by an unexpected turn of events. And the grandest surprise of all, the greatest reversal ever has happened by Gods grace in Jesus Christ. Who could have guessed it.? What can we do but surrender to it... Our response is like laughter...."
-Donald McCullough-

“None of the Princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”
1 Corinthians 2:8

All of heaven daily breaks into laughter. Every new earthly morning the angels giggle. It is the happy release of the tension created by an unexpected turn of events. - The Great Reversal –
The most uncalculated surprise of all has taken place. The greatest gag of all time has been played out into human history. Who could possibly have anticipated it.? Who would have guessed it.?
He who mocked God and oppressed man has been turned. He who thought he had conquered has been brought low. He who imprisoned has become the prisoner. The accuser has become the sentenced.
Grace and mercy have broken through in splendour. Via a rustic manger and a rugged cross, the great reversal has stemmed the flow of death and opened up the floodgate of life.
What can we do but join the angels in Holy laughter…………

I can’t help but be awed by the “great reversal”.
That God would send His only Son to turn the events of “the fall” on their head, and draw man back to Himself in an overt act of unashamed love…… it is beyond my human comprehension. It truly does make me want to laugh, the greatest gag of all has been played out on the “enemy of all that is good” and he has been taken in. He fell for it, hook, line and sinker.!!

To spend a day....

“It had always seemed to Emily, ever since she could remember, that she was very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself hung only a thin curtain; she could never draw the curtain aside – but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it, and then it was as if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond – only a glimpse – and heard the note of unearthly music. This moment came rarely and went swiftly, leaving her breathless with the inexpressible delight of it. She could never recall it – never summon it – never pretend it; but the wonder of it stayed with her for days.”
(From “Emily of New Moon” By L.M.Montgomery)

Rudolf Otto called it “the divine sense of the truly other”
If you have ever experienced it yourself, you know exactly what I speak of and there is no need to read further for nothing I can say can replace the sense of wonder and revelation that comes when one experiences it for oneself.
It creeps up on you unawares like a divine homesickness, like a holy haunting. And for the short while it lingers, we are drenched in mortality, more aware of our brevity and temporality than ever before. And we are left in no doubt that we have tasted but not yet feasted, on that which is otherworldly.
Albert Einstein said ”the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.”
Abraham, experienced it and it drove him forward. He went out, not knowing where he went, homesick for that which he had but caught a glimpse of.
And he sojourned.
The word literally means “to spend a day”.
We are but sojourners in a land of promise. We are aliens on a visit, pilgrims in a foreign land who have come but "to spend a day".
What we have is temporal, and it is the taste of “the mysterious” that calls us onward to that other city, that other country. It beckons us with an ache of the soul that reminds us that the journey is not yet over, we have not yet arrived.

There is music playing, but not everyone can hear it. Most are too busy hoarding things, reputations, egos and possessions. But those that do hear it always recognise the melody. A sometimes melancholy tune that truly moves them, divine music that touches the depths of their being with a longing for that which should be, and what one day will be, the manifestation of the sons of God amidst "Paradise Found."

Life is all messed up. It’s a result of the fall. We just don’t seem to remember that do we? Once upon a time we lived in paradise.
But not anymore.
We spend our days on “that which is not bread”. We labour for “that which does not satisfy”.
Will we ever wake up.?
Annie Dillard says “We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery”, and elsewhere she writes “our life is but a faint tracing on the surface of mystery”.
Will we ever realise once and for all that there is nothing on this temporal planet that will ever truly satisfy us because it’s not supposed to.
It was never meant to in the first place. The original blueprint is for a different world. The "mystery" beckons us on, the "holy haunting" calls us forward and we must finish the journey, we were only ever meant to be here but “to spend a day”.

Deliberately written.... deliberately fulfilled....

John 17:12
“That the scripture might be fulfilled”

Circumstances came about in deliberate fashion. Specific people were in specific places at specific times. Intentional events were set in motion. Everything was done with intent and purpose and methodical and systematic perfection. What took place, took place by design. The deliberate calculations of a deliberate God.
Why.....? Because the scripture had to be fulfilled.

Because it was written………. it had to come to pass.
Not the even the minutest of detail could be overlooked or ignored. The scripture had to be fulfilled. It was irrevocable.
It had not been written with the careless pen of an author of fiction living out his fantasy of other worlds, but with the deliberate and wilful intent of the Holy Spirit who created every world. And every letter, every word, every sentence…...set in motion a chain of events, circumstances, people, movings, stirrings……. whatever it took to bring about the eventual fulfilment of that which was written in order “that the scripture might be fulfilled”.
In the fullness of time it came to pass. It had to come to pass, there was no other option. It had been deliberately written...... it had to be deliberately fulfilled.

The dream....

At the edge of a wood with sunset now going, my wife stood nearby her face all a knowing. She stood by a path that led deep in the wood, she’d found out a secret she’d tell if she could. Though midst the darkness of night her face showed no sorrow, somehow I knew it was my task to follow. We entered a clearing where stood a well made of stone, though dark all around us we felt not alone. Around the well leaves of autumn lay in abundant full colour, not one looked the same each unique from the other. A breeze blew upon them swirling them round, making them dance without making a sound. As the breeze gently swirled it merged with white light, and there in that clearing leaves danced in the night. The breeze was the light and the light was the breeze, and it twirled all around us with the greatest of ease. With the light came a peace that began to surround, so we stood there in awe on the holiest of ground. And as we breathed in the breeze and soaked in the light, He healed the hurt in our souls that belonged to the night. All our fears vanished, melted like snow, all gone forever in one single blow. And as we stood there in awe at this wonderful sight, my children came running all full of delight. And one of them whispered as if on a whim, “I know who it is Dad.... it’s got to be Him.!”

Sometimes....God Hides...

When we used to play Hide and Seek as children, I always wanted to hide rather than be the one who had to seek. But in my walk with God I have discovered that joy is often to be found not just in the hiding, but in the seeking as well.

There are many times when I can’t openly see God and feel His presence. Sometimes God hides.
Sometimes God hides in our difficulties, all the while gently calling for us to come looking for Him and to seek after Him.
Sometimes He hides in the midst of our suffering and in our wilderness experiences. But even in those times, He is really just waiting for us to rediscover Him in ways that surprise and delight. And I’ve discovered that whenever God does appear, His laughter always heals the broken heart.

Sometimes I catch glimpses of God as I read His word.
In one passage He is revealed openly, while in another I must dig deeper if I want to unearth a fresh revelation of His face.
But all of the time, my seeking and my searching is encapsulated in an awesome wonder and excitement.... though mixed with a little fear as well, because I’m never quite sure just when it is that He will suddenly appear.

But when it is all said and done, while we always seem to think that we are endlessly searching for Him, the truth is, that it is always He that is searching for us.
And even though sometimes it may take a while, He always reveals Himself in the end. And I’ve discovered, that there is tremendous joy in finding Him in unexpected places.

Mercy... is love let go....

Mercy is not just a pardon. It is not the letting go of the penalty I deserve because the giver of mercy wants to prove he has power.
Mercy is passionate. It is a painful desire welling up from within that compels one to bestow grace.
In essence, mercy is pain. Love pain. A pain that pierces the soul until released.
Mercy is intense desire that must be expended at all costs because the object to which its love is directed has captured the heart.
Mercy is love let go. A love that if not let go, will tear ones heart apart. It is passion released. Desire set free.
True mercy cries out till it touches the object of it's love.

“Oh love, that will not let me go”

Following the Leader.....

I was at this conference for “Leaders”.
Now leaders are just ordinary folks with fancy titles because someone accidentally followed them once without realising it and someone else who was a “leader” saw it and said “look...there goes a leader” and so from then on they were called a “leader” even though immediately after the follower started following the leader, they realised their mistake and quickly stopped and started following someone else who then got to be called a “leader”.

But anyways.... we was at this conference for “leaders”, and there was this guest speaker.
Now a guest speaker is a guest who speaks.
And this guest speaker was speaking something about ships. It was all about leaderships.
Now I’m all for leaderships, or any kind of ship really. Fellowship is good, friendship is good, apprenticeship is good, and computers have something called a microship, and then of course there’s fish and ships...so you can see I’m right into ships and stuff, so leaderships can’t be too bad either.
But the thing was that this guest speaker who was a speaking guest at our conference for leaders was saying things like “You have to do this” and “You have to do that” and then “You need to do this” and “You need to do that”.

Well... somehow, I got it into my head that this guest speaker who was a leader oughtn’t be trying to push me around so much and keep telling me that “I have to” and “I need to” cos I was already feeling pretty tired over all this leadership stuff.
So I started counting how many times this guest speaker was saying “I have to” and “I need to”.
And when I reached 35 times, I said to myself that if this guest speaker who was a leader says “I have to” one more time, I’m going to leap right up out of my seat in the middle of this conference and make a really big scene and demand an apology in a very aggressive tone.

You know those very spiritual prophecies a person gives at 600 miles per hour, and you know it has to be God because no normal human being can talk that fast under normal circumstances and so everyone shouts “amen” at the end even though they didn’t understand a word of it.? Well that was the kind of tone I was gonna use....
So here I was just waiting with baited breath for this guest speaker to say “I have to” one more time, which would make 36 times in all.... and blow me down..... she did.!!
So I thought to myself “Right... that does it”, and so guess what I did..?

Nothing.
I just sat there and passively listened to the guest speaking leader say it all over again another 28 times.!!
Can you imagine the defeat. Can you imagine the feelings of failure.
I was useless. I had failed in my mission to save all of us following followers from the guest leading speaker who was leading the followers who were following the leader.
I was miserable.
Everyone at the conference for leaderships was disappointed in me because I didn’t freak out and stop the guest speaker from her incessant “I have to’s”.
My credibility was gone. It was over for me. No-one could ever look to me again to be rescued from the insanity of a conference for leaders made up of followers who listened to leaders.
And now we would have to do it all over again next year.
So there was only one thing left for me to do...and we did it.

We left.
Yep.... I mean departed. Vamoosed. Jumped ship......leadership that is... and we took off at a great rate of knots and headed for home, checking of course that we was not being followed by any following leaders.
And instead of staying at that conference for leaders learning about leaderships and how to “have to” and “need to”, we went and done some retail therapy and spent some of the banks money which was really ours anyway because they gave it to us to spend and we did, but they want it back and we bought a new lounge suite.
And I have decided I am not going to do it. I am not going back on that ship again. No more conference for leadership followers next year for me, cos “I don’t have to” and “I don’t need to” and “I don’t want to” and..... I don’t have a problem...... with leadership.!!

Delight and Desire.....

It would appear to me that there is some truth to the statement made by the Greek philosopher Aristotle when he said “It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied”.
Our lives are filled with desire, but rarely are we ever truly satisfied.

The way I see it, there are basically two forms of desire.
Firstly there is a desire that is motivated by our hunger and thirst. But secondly, there is a desire that is motivated by having already tasted or partaken.
The Bible seems to indicate that God wants us to predominantly have the desire of those who have already tasted.
Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good”

We spend way too much of our time hungry and thirsty.
We wrongly assume that because we are hungry for God we possess some kind of spiritual virtue. But far too much of our hunger is due to a leanness of the soul rather than the hunger of those who have already tasted and now long to taste more.
Hunger has never held a greater virtue than being filled.
Thirst has never held a greater virtue than being quenched.
Would you rather be hungry for God or full of God.?
Would you rather be thirsty for God or satisfied by God.?

Time and time again we read in the Psalms of how King David hungered and thirsted after God. But his hunger and his thirst was that of a man that had already drawn sustenance from the river of life, and was desperate to taste it again.
Psalm 63:1 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”

King David knew what it was to delight in God because he had spent time with him in the sanctuary of His presence. He had learned to delight in his God and he hungered for more.
Psalm 37:4 says…”Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
According to David, delight comes first, and our desire should spring out of that delight. We almost always operate in the reverse.

It seems to me that the problem is twofold.
Firstly, we tend to put desire before delight. Desire is a powerful thing, and our passions so easily rule us. We become captivated by our desires, and this would not be such a bad thing if our desires sprung out of a delight that we had already cultivated in God. But we tend to respond to our desires without having first spent time delighting in His presence. Yet it is when we delight ourselves in the Lord, that HE gives us the desires of our heart. Our desires are then filtered by his power and presence.

Secondly, we have a tendency to mistake our desire and hunger for God as a virtue in itself and then we rest in our longings. But what is better, to be hungry or full.? To crave for a meal, or to have eaten a meal.? God wants us to partake in him, delight in Him, and then we cannot but be consumed with a desire for more.
“Ho, every one that is thirsty, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and why do you labour for that which doesn’t satisfy? hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”

We seem prone to wrongly assume that if we only hungered more after God, if we only thirsted more…. then we would be more spiritual, and then we would really know God. But what we need is not a greater desire, what we need is a greater delight.
To know God is to enjoy him.
To know God is to revel in him.
To know God is to delight in him.
For many years I had always seen the great commandment “Thou shalt LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” as a command to DO in greater measure. But the command is not about doing in greater measure.... it is about ENJOYING in greater measure. !!
I was fooled into thinking that with a greater desire I would enjoy God more, but the truth is that in enjoying God more I will greatly desire him.

Delight and Denial.....

I have always loved the fact that the first and greatest commandment is one that instructs us to love and not one that instructs us to deny.
A lawyer asks Jesus “What is the first and greatest commandment.?”
Imagine if Jesus had answered “Thou shalt deny thyself with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and with all thy strength”

Love and delight, and not self denial have always been the Biblical motivation for serving God. Self denial carries no virtue in or of itself.
Self denial only has any real value when that which you delight in is far superior to the act of denial that you might carry out to obtain your delight.
“I count all things but loss (my denial) for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ (my delight)
“I press toward the mark (my denial) for the prize (my delight)......” Phillipians 3

There is no point in self denial for self denials sake alone.
It only becomes of worth when the act of self denial is for the purpose of realising something in which we find a much greater delight.
God is my delight – and any act of self denial only has merit when He is my goal. Any personal price that I might pay, is only of worth and only of value when it is paid in order that I might obtain my delight, my one determined purpose.... “that I might know Him.”

Time and the Ancient Hebrews..

We in Western Society view time as a line that stretches forward and backward in both directions, and what we experience now is a given point or dot on that line – called the present.
We make a clear distinction between something that happened some time ago in the past, something that is taking place right now in the present, and something that will take place later on in the future.
But to the ancient Hebrews, time was viewed more like a rhythm or like a melody, and when you begin to consider what actually makes up a rhythm or a melody it all makes pretty good sense.
One beat of a drum is insignificant on its own because it carries no meaning, it is just a loud noise. A single beat is only important in relation to the beats that have gone before and the beats that are to come. It is only important and only carries meaning when viewed as a part of an overall rhythm of events.
Likewise in a melody, one note on its own is nothing but noise.
But in relation to the notes that come before and the notes that come after, each note has relevance and is a part of an overall meaning and scheme of things.
When we conceive of time as a rhythm rather than a straight line, any one single moment is connected to, and contains all of the significance of the previous moments and all of the significance of the moments still yet to come because that’s what a rhythm is.
A rhythm is not a rhythm unless there are moments both before and after any one single moment. A rhythm is dependent on the moments behind you and the moments in front of you for significance. Without those moments both before and after there is no rhythm and no significance or meaning.
This is how the ancient Hebrews understood time.
The past, present and future are connected to each other.
Each moment in time, is only significant in relation to the moments that have gone before, and the moments that are yet to come.
Time is a journey of “movement”, a rhythmic pulse, with each “life moment” an important part of an overall melody that is significant only when viewed as a whole.
Imagine you went to listen to the symphony orchestra playing in a large auditorium. You take your seat and the music begins to play.
But to your dismay, the tones are very melancholic and sombre.
After five minutes of this you can’t take it any-more and so you get up and leave. But because you did not stay long enough to hear the victorious and the triumphant crescendo that finalises the piece, you will have interpreted the significance of the music incorrectly and will not have benefited from the true meaning of the piece as a whole.
The past and the future, the perfect and the imperfect are actually one piece of music. Time is a great symphony created by God.
There is ebb and flow, there are both melancholic whispers, and there are thunderous raptures of sound. It is not possible to correctly interpret the music until the symphony is over. Each bar of music, each beat of the rhythm, each musical note, each melody line must be viewed and interpreted as a whole...... only then will it all make sense, only then will we understand its true meaning.

Likewise......
Any single beat in the rhythm of your life, that you are facing right now or have ever faced in your lifetime, any one single circumstance or situation, any individual crisis, any momentary heartache, any one single tragedy, or any one single moment in time of any kind must never be judged on its own, because it only truly has meaning when it is understood as a whole, when all of the beats of the past are combined with all of the beats of the future.
Because each beat of your life is dependent on the beats that have gone before, and is dependent on those beats that are yet to come for their true significance and meaning.
Every beat of our life, only makes sense when it is connected to the whole of the symphony, and only carries meaning when viewed in the light of eternity.
Do not pass judgement on the beats of your life that have gone before….. because you have not yet heard the beats to come.
You do not yet know, if that circumstance or situation that you are facing right now will not rebound to the glory of God.
You do not yet know, if that so called tragedy that has left you devastated for the time being, will not yet still bring about something of incredible beauty.
You do not yet know, if that black and white heartache that has ripped you apart at this small moment in time will not yet blossom into full colour of abundant joy.
Because everything that you have faced up until now, all that you can see at this moment, is but a small part of an overall symphony of His mercy and His grace.

Contact or Connection....

A few thousand years ago as Jesus was on his way to heal a sick child, there was a multitude of people surrounding him to such a degree that the people were pressing in upon him and jostling against him.
No doubt Jesus was possibly even being pushed along by such a large crowd as people thronged about him and were making physical contact with him. But one person in the midst of this crowd, a desperate woman, touched him and something miraculous took place. When Jesus asked “who touched me.?”, the disciples just didn’t get it. What a crazy question to ask, after all everybody is touching him, he’s in the midst of a crowd for goodness sake.!!
But Jesus was not asking who it was that had made contact with him, he was asking who it was had made connection with him.
Contact and Connection. Two totally different things. Every week most of us diligently attend our local churches and may even attend a homegroup or similar meeting during the week. Every day we read our Bibles, spend time alone with God, and meditate upon the things of God throughout the day as time allows.
But are we just making contact, or are we making connection.?
We need Gods grace every day of our lives, but what we often fail to realize is that God’s grace is more than just a fact, it is a force. God’s grace is more than just forgiveness from sin, it is the power to overcome sin. God’s grace is more than just a gift, it is a powerful enabling. God’s grace carries supernatural power that changes our life. When we receive Gods grace, virtue flows. Power is transferred from Him to us. Miracles take place when grace flows freely. But to receive his grace there must be connection. I’ve discovered that merely keeping contact with God just makes me religious. Keeping in contact with God eases my conscious, but doesn’t cleanse it. Keeping in contact with God makes me feel spiritual but inwardly I remain thirsty and dry. Keeping in contact with God robs me of power and authority because I live in a knowledge of Grace but not in the reality and experience of it. But when I make connection with God, virtue flows, power is released and I am anointed. When I make connection with God his grace is sufficient for every task. When I make connection with God, duty turns to beauty and service turns to passion.

God of Mystery

I want a God of deep mystery. A God who knows how to play hide and seek. A God that steps out suddenly from some place unknown to reveal His glory for but a moment, only to vanish again into the darkness. I need a God that will always have something new to reveal of Himself when and as He sees fit, so that the thrill of the hunt goes ever on, and the haunting ever remains, calling me ever forward, luring me onward to what lies ahead, always craving the invisible that is seen only with the eye of faith. I want a God that draws out the power of His Spirit within me, a God that knows my limits and pushes me beyond them so that I’m eternally desperate for Him. I need a God that has hidden treasures deep underground and not just scattered on the surface. I need a God whose treasure map is a little burned at the edges and difficult to decipher, and even though that sacred search for hidden treasure occasionally leads me to precious stones of great worth, I also pray that there always remains an untapped vein, an unlimited supply of precious metal that will always remain deep below the surface. Because I cannot imagine for a moment that this life could be but a tenth as fulfilling were it not for the joy of the journey, the thrill of the hunt, and the desperation of the passionate who in pursuit of the treasure, finds that in its finality it but brings us to the person of God Himself.

Warm Winds and Timber Fences

I was staying at a farm somewhere in country Victoria. Who these people were I did not know or just do not recall. What I do recall is this: a strong wind was blowing….really blowing.
One of those hot dry winds that slowly knocks the life out of the grass, burning it to a dull grey, turning what only yesterday was lush and green into weathered hay that has lost its goodness.
I climbed the fence. One of those timber fences. A post every six feet or so, and three evenly spaced railings running horizontally along its length.
I stood on the second railing and supported the tops of my legs with the railing at the top of the fence. It was flat and stiff, easily strong enough to support the weight of a six year old boy.

Leaning into the wind and stretching as far forward as I dared, arms flailing to keep balance, I let the full force of the wind push back my hair. Within moments my eyes began to water, causing me to turn my head as I struggled to breathe. The warmth on my face seemed to travel. After hitting my face it journeyed on down through my chest to the rest of my body, lodging at the extremities of both my hands and feet. I felt strangely serene, at one with the moment, with a new awareness of everything around me, and yet I was oblivious to all but myself, the fence, the wind and the moment. The moment seemed to register something deep inside me. Suddenly I was in tune with something so familiar and yet I could not place it. I had discovered a secret. A secret I had known all along but had never properly told it to myself.

For what seemed to be the first time I became acutely aware that I was truly alive. I was an entity. I was a living and breathing person. I was a myself. A me. I was alone with a fence and the wind, and I felt no need for anything more. Life was complete. I had found what I had not even been looking for but had wanted all along. This was how it was meant to be. This was life before the fall. This was living before the sickness, this was life without indifference, this was life without needs. The mystery of the moment held me spellbound. I was experiencing a piece of forever trapped in realtime. I had found freedom at the top of a fence. The wind was blowing “forever” right into my face. Eternity was watering my eyes, filling my lungs and whispering in my ears. “I will always be with you, I will keep you safe, I will keep you warm, I will bring you joy”

I stood there on that fence, the wind in my face, leaning forward, tackling it head on. And I listened. Everything behind me was silenced by the force of that which was coming at me. I could only hear the future, I could only hear what was the roar of my destiny. So I stood on that fence, no longer hearing the past, but bent toward the future, with the warmest of feelings and the deepest of joys. Was the rest of life going to be this easy.? Could it possibly be this much fun.? Or was this only a taste, just a whiff, just a glimpse, just a tease of how things were really meant to be.?