False bottom

People in Rathcoole are generous, that's just the way it is.

We have what we call a trolley ministry in our church.  It's a simple idea, people bring along some extra groceries to church and leave them in a trolley in the front hall.  Once it has built up a bit those groceries are passed on to families who are struggling to make ends meet, it's a nice thing to do and it's what we're asked to do in the bible and like I say, people are very generous.

So the other day I, and the Girl from Down the Street, sorted the stuff into boxes.  There were ten in all, neatly arranged and awaiting distribution like little soldiers waiting for their assignments.  There were all sorts of delights within; beans, peas, pasta, sauces, pudding rice, cereal... even some toiletries and cleaning material, everything anyone could need.

The day after sorting them I rocked up with my trusty steed of a car to load and distribute the loot. All was going well until the last box.  It sat there on the floor, gleaming with pride.  It was a beautifully arranged box with a good even spread of foodstuffs.  It was the daddy of the boxes that day, the supreme receptacle, the King, the overlord, the terminator.. you get the idea - it was a box with some good stuff inside.

Then I lifted it.

The box came up but the contents stayed still.  The bottom of the box was weak and useless, the tape had failed, the cardboard had folded and it's reign as the Don was over.  Shame and disappointment gripped it like a  T-Rex grips a goat, the sham had been uncovered, the end had come.

Such is life.  We fill it with all the funky accessories we value - a job with a good wage, a shiny car, shiny kids and a shiny spouse.  We eat well, socialise well, get lots of high-fives when we 'knock 'em dead' and rumpy-pumpy on our king-sized bed.  We fill our box with all the box-tickers of earthly success; it looks good, it feels good, it smells good.  But then we go to lift it.

It's those times of turbulence that test the strength of our life-box and it will always be found wanting.  The truth is that you can fill your box up with all sorts of cool stuff but it's counts for nothing if you've got the wrong box.

Let me be clear.  Unless you build your life in Jesus it will be weak and it will not stand up to the tests of this world.  That is a fact that is clear to anyone who lives: Life is fragile and can only be got through when it is packed in Jesus Christ.

Which box is your life packed in?

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

   ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:3-5

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Don't fear the tear

It's great to have someone to laugh with.

Those moments when you can let out a big hearty guffaw, loose control and roll about on the floor.  Those special-memory making minutes of side-splitting euphoria are a gift from God, a giddy release from the everyday normal-ness of life on earth.

But friendships and family-ships aren't powered by the breeze of laughter but by the gale of tears.  It's when a heart is breaking and another breaks with it that the strongest relationships are forged.

Don't be afraid to be afraid with the ones you love. Don't be afraid to cry with each other - when you look back, they will be your most joy-filled moments, the moments when you grow, the moments that make you close, the moments that make you a family.

And if you want to be a church family then you've gotta do the same. Take the stuffiness out of your pockets, remove the plastic smiles from your faces and get real with each other.  Open up to your brothers and sisters and let the tears flow, there is joy to be found in the pain.

For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

2 Corinthians 2:4

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She gets it!

Bible Club Leader:   Hands up if you know the answer.  What is the best thing about heaven?


Five year old girl:   Jesus is there!


Amen.

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Million pound ambition

A wee while ago I was asked by an inspirational friend of mine, 'If you had a million pounds what ministry would you spend it on?'  I had no answer.

The truth is that it was never something I felt I needed to think about because it was unlikely that I was ever going to be offered that much cash in the first place.  But still, I had no answer and my mind started searching for one.

How about a groovy extension to our church with some storage space and a state-of-art-coffee-shop? Or developing some sort of techy on-line ministry that would reach the world? Or a team of fifty workers to shake the place up and do all the hard graft for us? 

The possibilities are seemingly endless, especially in a wee church like ours that isn't used to having surplus funds to throw at big projects.  

That fact is though that all the money in the world won't make much difference unless we are in step with God.  If our church has a beautiful building or a big staff or fancy-pants technology but is cold, or hurt, or disinterested then the nice stuff is just lipstick on a pig.

I still have no answer for my inspirational friend, but I know this: I won't be wasting my time praying for a million pounds, I'll ask God for something important instead - The salvation of my friends and family and the restoration of my church.  Make us whole again Lord Jesus.

What would you spend a million bucks on?

Get your motor runnin'

What makes your world rock?

Do you have a passion for fashion or get in a frenzy for football? Do you get dreamy over dogs or go crazy for cupcakes? Is it meeting A-list stars or driving shiny cars?  Is it drinking fancy liquors or seeing pretty girls in their knickers?  What is it that gets you going, what moves you to madness?

We all have something that pushes our buttons, sometimes in a most beautiful and freeing way and other times in a hedonistic, pleasure-fuelled, guilt-inducing haze.

Last night I was introduced to the oratory talents of Louis Giglio and he reckons that we should get a little crazy when we remember the life-changing affect Jesus has on those of us that know Him already.  Not so that it becomes impossible for us to function or so that others might think we should be avoided but just every now and then, we should allow ourselves to get super-excited about the super-exciting, supernatual power of God, a bit like David did when he danced in the streets because his God had brought the Ark back to Jerusalem (read it here!).

Imagine getting excited about Jesus, imagine being that guy or that girl that is not ashamed to express the wonders of God in their life and sing and dance and shout hallelujah.

Sadly in the culture I grew up in it is considered odd to do this.  Ulster says no to letting yourself go.  We must be ordered and serious and reverent.  And indeed we must.  Our God is a God of order, He makes sense and we are to be sensible. But we should not let order rob us of the wonder of worship and the freedom of praise.

Don't pour out your passion onto food or wine or images on a screen. Don't waste your worship on money or drugs or the latest fad on the music scene.  Be excited about being God's and dance for Jesus.

'I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.'

2 Samuel 6:21-22

Looking for love?

People are lonely.

Not all people - but a lot are.  Some people are lonely by themselves, they want to be in company, they want friends but they find them hard to come by.  Others are lonely in the midst of a crowd, very much loved and surrounded by people who are prepared to make sacrifices for their good but then, when they lie in bed at night, they feel totally alone.

Others don't have this problem, they are content with the friends and family they have.  Sometimes these people get annoyed or confused by the lonely people, they find it hard to sympathize.  They look at the lonely people and think surely if they were just easier to get along with or if they weren't so opinionated/obstinate/shy/grumpy/odd/smelly they would find the friendships they are looking for.  And those people who feel lonely when they are surrounded by people who love them, what's wrong with those people? They are ungrateful and undeserving of those people whose love they reject.

I don't know why some people feel lonely or struggle to make friends but I do know that they are lonely and feeling lonely sucks. They need grace and patience from others, they need to be loved even when it is temptin to walk away.

Below is a postcard from the website postsecret.  It shows someone pinning their hopes on another person, that's too much pressure.  Look to God and He will be with you through your lonely times.

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
   but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24

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The enemy within

It's 2011; people are calm and reasonable, right? Wrong.

I recently had the dubious pleasure of a trip across the water to Old Trafford football ground to watch Manchester United play Everton.  I was travelling with a United fan and a neutral but I, alas, am an Everton man.

Yes, Roger, the Sage-on-the-Hill and myself made use of someone else's season tickets and found ourselves in the largest stand of the largest club stadium in England, just us and 75, 297 others.  Roger was wearing a lovely red number, the Sage was in pastel shades and I was proudly sporting a 1996 Everton home top, all was well. 

All was not well.

While sitting in our seats as the crowd started to filter in we were approached by a little jobsworth steward in a fluorescent jacket who pointed at my shirt and said, 'You can't wear that here.'  I was flabbergasted.  In this day and age, in a time where everyone sits during a match, in a time when prawn sandwiches and G&T have replaced pies and beer, in an enlightened era of cosmopolitan footballers and their A-list wag's, in this time a little ginger man can't sit alone with a different coloured shirt to the 75, 299 around him without fear of being beaten to a pulp if his team scores first!  It's a disgrace I tells ya - a disgrace.

I put a jumper on. Problem solved.

As in football, so too in life.  I am in enemy territory.  This world belongs to the devil but I don't.  I have a different coloured shirt on.  The problem is that the world fears those in God's team but we must stand strong, we must declare our allegiance and suffer the consequences, we must be prepared for a battle. 

Unfortunately we (Christians) have a tendency to, metaphorically speaking, put our jumpers on over our shirts.  We still are on the Lord's side but we just don't shout about it. We still want our enemy beaten but just as long as we don't get a beating along the way.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes

Romans 1:16