If you’re a movie watcher, you’ll recognise the title of this blog as a very famous line from the movie, ‘Dirty Dancing’ (if you haven’t seen it, let me assure you the film is not as bad as the title may suggest!) I think for you to understand where I’m coming from in this blog I need to give some context! It’s a great movie, set in the 60’s about a teenage girl trying to find her way in life. She finds herself in the staff quarters after show party and is drawn to the very cool character, Johnny, played by Patrick Swayze. She’s trying to be cool too, but when he comes over to her to find out who she is, she blurts out, ‘I carried a watermelon’ she wasn’t lying, that’s what she brought into the party, but, to the cool boy, it wasn’t the best line to come out with! In case you’re going to watch it now, I won’t spoil it, but I’m pretty sure you already know how it ends!

Anyway, fast forward to a few days ago. We were sat with a few missionaries discussing the hard, but necessary job of fund raising. If you put out an appeal to buy a building, sponsor a child, build a home for a widow etc… the funds role in and we are all very grateful that they do. However, if you send out an appeal to buy food, water, electric etc.. funds do not role in. As we were talking, this line from the movie came to me, ‘I carried a watermelon’ I thought about it in the context of missions giving and came to the conclusion that, generally speaking, not many people want to carry the watermelons. Why? Because it isn’t seen as, to use an up to date word for this, ‘sexy’ enough. People want their finance to go to something that is tangible and, probably, it we’re honest, something that helps us feel good about what we’ve given to. Let’s face it, how many people would you tell if you’d paid the electric bill for a missions base in a far-flung country in the world? Much better if you have a picture of a kid on your fridge, right?

Our missionary experience is about to change as we re-locate back to the UK. We will always be involved in Tanzania, it’s just our location that is changing. Because of this, I feel a freedom now to write about these things in defense of my missionary mates who are still on the field. If nobody takes up the watermelon challenge, there will be no projects to support and no kids to sponsor. That’s the reality. Every mission needs the watermelon carriers! You can’t look after people if you have no food, water or electricity. Seems a very simple thing to say, but the reality is, it’s much more difficult to raise funds for these kinds of things. So, if you support missions, and every Christian on earth should (that’s for another blog!) Your missionaries would love it if you sent them some operational money! Offer to pay the rent, buy some food, pay the electric bill! Sexy? No! Vital? For certain!

Let’s be watermelon carriers!

Soul talk

Recently, I jarred my back whilst running. I only had 16 seconds to go until the run had finished and I truly wished I could have turned the clock back. John and I did what we always do first in these situations and we prayed and declared that this would not remain an issue.

It was day one of a new training regime and I was determined not to get stopped so early on! It could have been a natural thing or it could have been something more than that, but, whatever it was, we decided that it could not stay in my body. As the day progressed, I decided to carry on with all the chores that were on my ‘to do’ list and I prayed and spoke words of healing to my back throughout the day. I took ibuprofen and rubbed on deep heat – I’m not against doing that, although I thought the deep heat was going to burn my skin off! I (my spirit) had to decide to carry on, what I (my body and soul) wanted was to lie on the sofa all day and let John wait on my hand and foot! (Do my American friends understand that term?) So, my spirit had to make a decision that went against what my body wanted.

If you know us, you will know that the main focus of our ministry is spirit, soul and body. We are convinced, more than ever, that, generally speaking, the souls (minds, wills and emotions)  of believers are running lives and the spirit part of us doesn’t get much say.

I asked God to speak to me about what was going on with my back and we had a chat or I felt him talking to me in the middle of the night.

I felt God telling me that the reason it is so difficult for the spirit part or the inner-part of man to rule the ‘show’ is because the body and the soul are spoilt and pampered and they often seek and often need attention. So when something hits like what happened to me, your body and  soul wants attention, care, sympathy and I guess, prayer so they maybe go to social media and immediately get said attention. Your spirit, on the other hand has absolutely no need for those things! It doesn’t operate through feelings and it does not need attention from any other human being.  I believe it is healed, strong and fully complete. (2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given me EVERYTHING I need for life and godliness)

Now, I’m not saying that letting people know your issues is always a bad thing, but I do think we need to pause and ask why we want people to know. I told one friend because I wanted her to know that there was a possibility of me missing aerobics the next day – but I think a little piece of me wanted sympathy! The more people you tell, the more sympathy you get, the more you have to tell the story and it’s possible to lose your focus from where it should be, which, to me, is your spirit and the need for you to attack the reality of a situation with the higher realities of health and strength that is already in your spirit. Did you know that  if you are a Christian, you have the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead inside of you – all the power you need, right there!  (Romans 8:11)

If you want to know if your spirit makes your decisions, shut your body down for a few days and you’ll soon find out! If you go on a diet or if you fast, your body doesn’t like it one bit! It wants to quit, it wants to eat cake or it wants to sleep until the fast or diet is over! How do I know? Through experience! It’s only when you shut your body down that you realise how spoilt it is. Certainly, this is true for Western Christianity.

My desire is to help Christians, myself included, realise who we are in Christ. Jesus died on the cross to not only give us eternal life, but also to give us abundant life on earth. (John 10:10).  Not a life without struggles, storms or mountains to overcome, like jarring your back when running! But a life that can tap into the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, a life of discipline and of making right choices so that I can overcome the storms of life. That kind of church will speak volumes to the world and I’d like to be a part of a church like that!

We can often just accept struggles – even for years – as if there is no way out and we use people like Job or Paul. Job was the greatest man around at the time and ended up with so much more than he had before Satan tried to take him out.  Paul wrote over a third of the New Testament and his trials all brought glory to God. If your trial isn’t bringing glory to God, then maybe you should question whether you should be living with it.

I jarred my back on a Thursday and I went to aerobics on the following Friday morning. It was more of a statement of intent than the fact that I was healed. I chose to walk in a victory I didn’t yet have. I took it easy and wasn’t stupid, but I did the hour long class. 4 days later I did a 30 minute run. I prayed, spoke, took ibuprofen and rested, but I didn’t give in to it and neither should you.  The goodness of God, for our every day lives, is far greater than we often think.

I have recently been disturbed, once again, about the abuse I have seen thrown around towards fellow Christians by Christians. I wrote this blog 2 years ago! (where does the time go?) So I thought I would re-post it! It isn’t Easter right now, but it was when I wrote it and I’ve left it as it was for effect:

Easter is just behind us and many of you reading this have seen, taken part in, heard once again about what Jesus went through during that first Easter weekend. Even if you’re not religious, if you’re involved in social media, I imagine that some of your friends and family are and so you’ll have seen things – images, videos, gratitude status’ and so on. Unless you live in a cave, you know we’ve just had Easter.

Recently, I was reading the accounts of what happened that day and something struck me in a way it never has before. It made me think a lot and the question that came to my mind was ‘what kind of people actually stand in a crowd and shout, “Crucify Him!”’ Just think about that for a minute – could you do it? I honestly think that whoever was ‘on the stand’ I could not imagine those words coming out of my mouth. They didn’t just say it once; they repeated it over and over…

Matthew 27: 22, 23 & 31

“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!”

Mark 15: 13 & 14

Crucify him!” they shouted.

Luke 23:21

But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

John 19: 6 & 15

As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

I ask you again, could you do that? Even if it was someone who had committed a terrible crime, I just don’t think I could send a person to be nailed, that’s nailed – I say again, nailed to a cross!! What kind of people were they? Had they had dinner with their families that evening? Had they been to the synagogue? Had they cleaned their kitchen? Were they ordinary people who turned into savages on that first Good Friday? The only answer I have is that something evil was involved in the hearts of that crowd that day – it makes no sense otherwise or it may have been something familiar to the day and a spill over from the arenas where bloodshed was ‘normal’ entertainment or maybe they were more animal like back then… Thank goodness it was 2000 years ago and a severely ugly part of our history. Or was it?

Shropshire – March 2015

There was a young man on top of a tall building. What was going through his mind? What had happened to him in his life to bring him to this point? God is the only one who really knows. Maybe if this was the year that Jesus was crucified we could understand what happened because they were obviously more thuggish back then? But it wasn’t! It was now and on the streets of the UK. People were telling him to jump!

Here is what one woman said,

“As we walked past, there were some youths shouting ‘Go on, do it – jump’,” she said. “It made me feel quite sick, actually, and then a lot of them were filming it, but to see some grown men filming it…

Grown men filming it! How had their day started? Shower? Had breakfast with their families? Maybe they were on their way home or to work. The only answer I have is that something evil was involved in the hearts of that crowd that day. I wonder what the mood was like around the dinner tables that night, especially of the grown men who filmed it. Do you think they showed the video to their kids? Could you have shouted, ‘jump!’ Could you have shouted ‘Crucify him!’ What gets into the heart of man that would turn him into a savage? Maybe it’s because they don’t know Christ! Yes, that’s it, thank goodness – they don’t know Jesus. Surely if you knew Jesus you couldn’t be so savage or could you?

The other day I stumbled across yet another huge piece of writing on a well-known Christian teacher. I didn’t read it all because there was oodles of it – nicely italicised and emboldened as they made their points about how wrong this man is. There are people, scratch that, there are Christians who seem to have dedicated their lives to tearing down people, scratch that, brothers and sisters in Christ. Have these high profile teachers got EVERYTHING right? Of course they haven’t. Have you? Have I? The comment on this particular article, and there were many, that really made me mad (righteously of course!!) was this one, ‘the pit awaits him!’ The pit awaits him!!! Who do we think we are making judgments such as this? The said ‘pit’ does exist according to scripture. If I’m honest, I wish it didn’t but it does. God does not want anyone to go there. I do not want anyone to end up there. Could you say, ‘the pit awaits him’ about anyone? However bad a person is and let’s face it there have been some unimaginable atrocities meted out on this earth since it began – well after the forbidden fruit was eaten – and we will face judgment. BUT that is up to God and not up to me. To condemn another believer to the pit is the lowest of the low and I hope the person who wrote it will be convicted and remove it.

So, to end… it seems that the crowd that shouted, ‘crucify him’ 2000 years ago hasn’t changed much. Some are even saying that to people on the same side!

These high profile men and women don’t have it all right and sometimes they don’t do the wisest things. BUT they are our brothers and sisters in Christ so let’s leave them alone. If they bug you that much, then don’t listen but don’t slander them either! Leave the judging to God and concentrate on what Jesus commanded us to do – Love (agape) one another as he has loved us…

I realise this title probably made you open this blog and you might imagine I’m going to say I’ve stopped praying or I don’t agree with it or I’m just giving up – I think you’ll be relieved to know I’m not going to say any of those things, but I do want to share are some thoughts of where I’m at with my praying journey. I may have more questions than answers right now, so I’m simply sharing my heart…..

Here is what I know:

God is good. He loves his children more than we understand. He is perfect in all of his ways. He tells us to pray ‘on earth as it is in heaven’. There is no sickness in heaven, there is no death in heaven so I want to believe that if someone appears to be dying too soon or is living in unnecessary suffering (not the kind that may bring glory to God), I can pray the same for my friends/family on earth, right? I want to see results as a direct connection to my prayer.

Some other things that I know:

My prayers don’t always get answered in the way I would like –  My friends die (too early, at least for me). Families break up. Sicknesses don’t get healed. ‘On earth as it is in heaven’…….

You’re probably thinking, well if your prayers don’t get answered, it must have been God’s will for your friends to die. If that’s the case, then why pray? Why not just be fatalistic and say ‘ God, let your will be done’ and head off to the beach? I feel like that is a cop-out. Here’s why I think that: generally speaking, if someone recovers, it’s God’s will and if the same person dies, it’s God’s will – they can’t both be God’s will, can they?

We all get emails, face book messages, tweets etc… asking us to pray for situations that are sometimes just horrible. The church rises, it fasts (if it’s really bad) it prays, tragedy strikes, the church is devastated and we don’t ask why, we just say, Oh well, it must have been God’s will….. So I ask the question I started with, what on earth is the point of praying? I’m tired of being asked to pray and not getting the desired answer.

Personally, I can’t accept this hit and miss kind of Christianity. I just can’t and I don’t want to – I’ll go as far as to say I don’t think God wants me to either. . I want to know what it is to get answered prayer every time, even if that is a ‘no’ and if it’s a ‘no’ I want find out as early in the prayer process as possible, instead of just not knowing. I’ve asked the Lord to help me with this and this is what I think He said.

The church is not close enough to him  to hear his voice. Intimacy is a rare thing. The general level of prayer amongst leaders is puny, therefore the level of the churches’ prayer is also puny. If we would hear his  voice daily, then when tragedy comes, He might just whisper, ‘no need to pray for this, I’m calling my son/daughter home’ Of course, it would still be sad for the people left behind,  but the peace we would all have would carry us through. Instead, the church goes into a frenzy of prayer only for the answers not to come and I,  for one, am left shaking my head asking, what was the point of praying?

We have to get back to taking prayer seriously. I address myself too. Some of you reading this will definitely have a strong prayer life, most of you won’t. That’s because we don’t really believe God answers prayer. It’s not what you say that you believe, it’s what you do, so if you don’t go to your churche’s prayer meeting (if they have one – God help us if they don’t), you don’t really believe in prayer.

God is not mean, but I just think he wants us to know him better. For me, I want to really know how or what to pray in any given situation and to do that, I need intimacy with him. If I can pray confidently, knowing what God’s will is, my prayer life will be lot less ‘lottery’ like and a whole lot more ‘fact’ like.

I wish I had more answers and maybe as I continue to ask, I’ll get more. My challenge to the church is don’t not ask questions. Be bold enough to ask, did we miss something?

The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is living in you and me giving life to our mortal flesh….(Romans 8:11)  Where is that spirit? On the inside of me!  So, let’s not rest until we see what we all long to see. Will you have to get out of bed a little earlier in order to see it? Maybe…. How hard are we prepared to work for it? …..it’s our shift, let’s arise.

There’s a question with a thousand answers. Depending on where you are coming from when you read that question, will determine your answer of course. Technically, every follower of Jesus is a missionary in the sense of telling your story and living a life that is abundant so as to ‘attract’ friends and family into the kingdom. However, for this blog, I’m talking about those who God calls to up sticks, leave family, friends, the known way of life and head into an unknown, sometimes scary place.

The first time we became missionaries was in 1998. We were asked to consider a role in East Africa and, after much thought (mainly against the idea it has to be said) and prayer, we took on the role. Our kids were 6 & 7 at the time and we landed in Tanzania. We were salaried back then, our kids’ schooling was paid for among other things and we didn’t have to think about raising funds. I remember thinking at the time how glad I was about that. I was having enough trauma with the food, mosquitoes, dark nights (sounds pathetic now) Ghekos, strange noises and so to have to contemplate how we were going to live on top of all that would have been a step to far for us back then.

It’s all very different now. Most missionary organisations have a policy whereby the missionary is responsible for gaining their own support. This is both positive and negative I think.

The positive aspect is that the missionary generally tends to know most their supporters and this creates a great sense of ‘team’. When newsletters go out, in the main, you’re writing to your mates who have made the choice to stand with you as you go and that is a very satisfying feeling.

The negative aspect is that some supporters (not all, thank God) tend to think that they own you and they have a right to judge your life and the way you live. This is an ugly mindset and I’m yet to find out where it came from.

The missionary has two choices here: 1. They live a lie, they do really nice things but never tell anyone just in case their support goes down. 2. They live a lie, they never do nice things and therefore have a less of a life than Jesus died to give them, and if there are kids on the scene, they usually pay a heavier price.

These are some of the things I have heard recently that have been said to missionary friends of ours: ‘You have a microwave?’; ‘You have an Ipad?’; ‘You live by the ocean?’; ‘I wish I was a missionary!’ (After having been on safari)

Someone actually stopped their support of a young girl because she was having too good a time on the mission field! Oh my….

Now, let me say that if all you’re doing is having too good a time on the mission field – after all, there are some very nice things to do, I’m writing this by a swimming pool – I hope we don’t lose £10 from someone because I just told you that! Haha!! Then maybe your/our supporters have a point. They do need to see some fruit for their sowing into our lives, of course they do. But if you work hard doing what you know God has called you to do, then you/we should be free to play hard too shouldn’t we?

Many of the people who use sarcastic comments like, ‘it’s alright for you living in the sunshine’ (yeah, we’ve had that one too), haven’t sacrificed anything. They live near their kids, they have a comfortable home, possibly 2 cars, a microwave (ha), a comfortable salary and yet they seem to imagine we should make all the sacrifices, whilst they make none?! How is that fair?

I’d love it if this blog would stop all the ugly comments that have the potential to turn missionaries into’ liars’, but it probably won’t. So, for what it’s worth, to all my missionary friends, work hard, but also play hard – don’t let the fear of lack of support stop you from going to the beach, having dinner out, going on date nights, letting your kids have fun – personally I’d rather lose $100 a month than give up my life – after all, should’t God be our source anyway?

To our wonderful supporters, don’t go all funny if you see a picture of ‘your’ missionary at the beach, I’m sure you go (granted, not very often if you live in the UK! Haha!), celebrate them – you have no idea what may have gone on the week leading up to the beach. Tell them to have a great time, it will do wonders for them.

Finally, let’s be kinder and nicer to each other.

Whilst reading Maya Angelou’s book, ‘I know why the caged bird sings’ my own thinking made me realise that so do I. Maya recounts her upbringing in the Deep South of America in the 1950’s. She points out the fact that some of the Afro American people really just learned how to put up with their abuse, it was their lot, it was expected and probably, they thought, what God wanted. She admitted words to the affect of, the poorer, more abused and put down her people were, the more God was involved. Yet if people prospered, that can’t have had anything to do with God.

Separate from reading this book, I also discovered another fact about the second word war – did you know that one statistic that has been revealed was that, on average, it only took one guard to control 1000 Jews?  It seems, they (not all, some did stand up to the German oppression – the film, ‘Defiance’ tells their story) were more content to accept their lot than to fight. How easy would it have been to take control of one German soldier? Yes, they’d have sent more, but at least the Jews would have gone down with a sense of dignity and fight. I don’t know for sure, but it makes you think.

So, with this evidence, it got me thinking… some were happy to sing in their cage because that was so much easier than fighting. The known darkness, abuse, oppression, was easier than the unknown. It was easier to sing in a cage than it was to push open the cage door and fly out.

After being in ministry for almost 30 years, I see many Christians singing in cages. They’re happy, content, fed and secure. They are free to sing, they don’t have to feed themselves and they’re comfortable with what they have concluded is their lot.

PLEASE!…. think again. Does God really need caged birds – however beautiful they may sing? Do caged birds really represent Jesus well on earth? There is no answer to that question except a very loud ‘no!’

Jesus’ death was ultimately about securing eternal life for those who would accept it, but I believe it was also about letting thousands, millions of human beings out of their cages and saying, ‘hey, look at me fly!!’

The problem, as I see it, in the church today, is that we have become far too apathetic and we can’t be bothered to find out why we’re in the cage and what we need to do to get out. I say ‘what we need to do’ purposely. Jesus did it all at Calvary. The enemy was defeated. Jesus won! He loves you, He is for you!

However, it’s much easier to stay in the cage and say to pastors, counsellors, leaders, ‘feed me’ ‘care for me’ ‘visit me’ ‘pray for me’ rather than opening that cage door and saying, ‘right! That’s it! Satan, you were defeated! God, what do I need to do to get out of my cage? I am ready to obey and commit to getting free!

Is it harder to open the cage door? Of course it is! Will you get a better life? For sure! If you let a bird out of a cage, I imagine, for a while, it’s not sure what to do for food or protection, but eventually, if it keeps going, a whole new world will open up to it. It’s the same for us. Yes, it’s risky, scary, unknown, but don’t you think that if Jesus died to give you eternal life, life forever in paradise, he has also got your life on earth covered too? If you comply with His word, if you’re open to saying ‘yes’ even when you don’t know what’s round the corner, I’m certain your life will be one amazing adventure! If you choose to stay in your cage, you’ll be safe, comfortable, fed and you’ll be free to sing, but you will miss out on the world that God could open up for you if only you’d open your cage door.

Go on… I dare you……

 

So many people have said, what a terrible year 2016 has been for losing celebrities and, it’s true, it has. However, someone in our family said recently, ‘it wasn’t 2016, it was the 1980’s’. This got me thinking. What they meant was, the choices that some, not all, of these celebrities made thirty years ago could have contributed to their death in 2016. Before we explore further, please let me re-iterate again, I’m not writing this because I want to say, ‘I told you so’ I want us to stop in our tracks and ask ourselves questions like, if I continue on the path I’m on, will I be dead in twenty or thirty years time? Or what about the question which is more likely for the readers of this blog, if I’d have continued on my path of the 1980’s, could I have joined the list of deaths in 2016? I know a lot of us would answer yes to the second question.

I could have named the celebrities, but I felt it better just to list some of the common facts that I found as I researched the stars.

Numerous sexual partners; numerous divorces; accidental overdoses; suicides; more than one marriage; drug abuse; alcohol abuse; prescription drug abuse; arrests; prison sentences; electroconvulsive therapy; bi-polar; depression; Aids.

Of course, there is not space to go into the details of every celebrity that died and I’m not in any position to say categorically that these are the reasons that the long list of celebrities passed from this life to the next, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that some of the choices made in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s even into the 00’s could have contributed to an early exit.

We all know about the many ‘stars’ who are either dead or in prison in their 80’s because of what went on in the 1970’s. Rolf Harris, Jimmy Saville, Stuart Hall. These were our ‘heroes’ men we admired, laughed at and respected. Yet, they were abusing children/young adults! Did the media turn a blind eye because they were famous? Will we ever really know the truth? One thing is for sure; your past always catches up with you. You can’t just do what you like with this life and imagine you won’t get caught.

Recently, John and I watched the movie ‘the Jersey boys’. We’d never seen it before and, although we knew loads of the songs, we hadn’t realised that it was the Four Seasons that were responsible for writing so many fantastic songs! Oh what a night, My eyes adored you, Big girls don’t cry, Walk like a man, Sherry, Can’t take my eyes off you and loads more. So many songs that I’ve danced the night away to, great, feel good songs. The other thing that we weren’t aware of was the disastrous back-stories that were going on. Financial trouble (into the hundreds of thousands), marriage break ups, affairs, a teenage accidental overdose (Frankie Valli’s daughter) Six months before that, his stepdaughter was killed after falling from a fire escape. So many tragedies, yet, all most people knew was the music, exhilarating and feel good music, getting you to do the ‘Peter Kay walk’ to the dance floor kind of music. I found it sobering that there were so many lost souls during their story and felt kind of bad that I was unaware of what was really going on. As is my custom when pondering such things, I began to think about church. What is really going on?

I see lots of dangers, but let’s continue with the celebrity status.

When someone famous becomes a Christian, (their fame doesn’t have to be world wide), they can be famous in their community because of what they’ve achieved in that community: sport, music, charity work etc. even your past life can make you famous, what you were before your conversion. Usually, the church throws you onto a stage to begin to tell the world of their new found faith. There’s usually no time between the biggest decision the person has ever made and their ‘stage’ presence! Why? Because we (most of us who lead churches), think this will be the next big thing, this will be what will make our church grow and, ultimately give us significance because, let’s face it, unless you’ve got numbers, you don’t count for much. Let’s just say it as it is. There is usually no background check, no talking to the family to see how they’re handling the changed person, no finding out whether or not the guy is genuine and is the same ‘nice guy’ at home as he is in church. We just imagine they’ll be able to handle to ‘fame’. Character must come before charisma, but sadly, the church is more attracted to charisma and it believes the world will be too. The more I go on, the more I see that character has to trump charisma or the next big thing will quickly become the last big thing, lots of people will get hurt and we’ll move on. But while ever we’d rather see a crowd, than check a person’s character, we will not get God’s best; it will be counterfeit and won’t last long.

We’ve made some Christian leaders celebrities haven’t we? We give them a platform either because they’ve got a great ‘past’ story and they might just be the ones who fill our church or they’ve built a church of 200 (which let’s face it, is only good this day and age because there aren’t many of them – sad fact). Usually, there are no questions asked, questions like, ‘when was the last time you were on a porn site?’ or ‘when was the last time you drank too much?’ or, which is just as serious, ‘when was the last time you made love to your spouse?’ there seems to be a huge lack of character checks, like those things don’t matter. If you’re reading this, especially if you’re in ministry, ask yourself the question, when was the last time anyone asked you questions like that. If you’re a wife (or husband, for that matter), when did you last ask your partner if they look at porn? Did you know it’s rife?

It’s the same with the stars: Grammys, Oscars, awards, accolades – fantastic, and if they cheat on their partners or do cocaine, so what!?

So, was it really 2016 or could it have been ‘1986’? For the ones who sadly left us this year, I guess it matters not now. But it can serve as a warning or an encouragement for us who are going into 2017 in just a couple of day’s time, to give ourselves the best chance of winning. I hope 2017 will bring for you your hopes and dreams and that it will be a year full of love and life. If you have a tough decision to make because you know you’re on the wrong path, I pray the same for you too. Be encouraged and change your destination. It’s not too late.

 

 

 

 

 I live in Tanzania for most of the year. If you know me, then you know that. Our time at home right now (UK) happened to be during the referendum: the biggest vote that has been in Britain for a very long time. I’m not a politician, I had my personal thoughts, I didn’t really know how to vote, but I knew I should pray. I prayed for God’s will and I can honestly say that I had decided that whichever way the vote went, I would accept it was God’s will for our nation – if not, what’s the point of praying? I kind of assumed (maybe I’m naive) that every believer in the UK was praying the same thing?

I stayed up on the night of the results, (even though I said I wouldn’t, I like my bed too much!) because I could see it wasn’t going in the direction that most of the UK thought it would. I fell asleep around 2.00am – I woke at 4.30am, checked my twitter, saw that we were out and I went back to sleep. I was shocked like everyone, not because I definitely wanted to remain, but I thought the fear that had been sown, would mean the UK would play it safe.

My initial thoughts were of excitement, adventure and the chance to do something new. I was pretty happy because I believed this must be what God wants otherwise the devil won and the Christians in the UK have no power – in other words, it was a complete waste of time praying. My sadness began as I opened social media. The fear, insults, hatred and pride (on the side of those who ‘won’) that was flying around was extremely vexing (Thanks for that word Miss Catherine De Burgh – Pride and prejudice!). I’d have let it go and probably not written this blog if it had been from people who didn’t know Jesus, but it wasn’t. The initial reaction to the result from a lot of Christians was one of fear. So, I started to ask the question: Why was that the first reaction for so many? I think was because too many reacted from their souls – (minds, wills and emotions). The first reaction didn’t come out of believers’ spirits, the inner part of us, the part that doesn’t need to feel in order to act; the part that hosts the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. (Romans 8:11). A lot of Christians jumped right into the river of fear. ‘Hate’ ruled instead of love and it was heart breaking.

For the people who don’t have the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead inside of them, then fear and uncertainty is understandable and inevitable, at least until it settles down – and I believe it will. But for those of us who have that same spirit, if you reacted with anger, pride, fear or, dare I say, hatred, then shame on you – there is no excuse.

I got to thinking about what it must have been like when Winston Churchill announced to the nation that Britain was again going to war in 1939. Can you imagine? It had only been a little over twenty years since the last one. I’m sure the fear and uncertainty that was flying around was huge! Can you imagine if Facebook had been around? Churchill was not a hero on that day, I’m sure. He was actually in the minority to go to war, but he made his stand and thank God he did. He is a hero today. I’m not comparing that to this, but what I am saying is, we’re grateful that the UK went into a dark place for a while, because we are free today. What if this is God’s will for us? What if HE has an incredible plan for us that couldn’t happen to the same degree if we’d remained? I don’t know that for a fact, I’m just thinking out loud.

John (my lovely husband) said that the UK church now has a greater opportunity to influence policy in the UK. It really had less chance to influence the policy of the EU (other than a miracle) simply because of the volume of people who could block that influence on policy. It’s time for the church to grow up and to rise into its potential – can we do it? Can we rise into the people that Jesus died for us to be? I think we can, but it’s going to take strength of leadership. Insecurity is going to have to die, leaders must lead, yet also be open to be coached – it’s not always the congregation or the elders that are wrong (Honest!). Apathy amongst congregations is going to have to die. If you only go to church every three weeks, then you’re not helping. If you don’t regularly spend time in the word of God and in prayer, then you’re not helping. If you’re sick, but you’re not in the dwelling place (Psalm 91), you’re probably not going to get your prayers to be healed answered. Is that because God doesn’t want to? No. It’s because he expects us to fulfil our parts of his promises. Here’s just one: “Acknowledge him in ALL your ways, and he will make your paths straight.” If you don’t acknowledge him, then do not expect your paths to be straight. Sorry, but that’s the ‘deal’. Fair enough, I think.

The nation has most certainly been divided by what’s happened, but here are a couple of interesting things. On the Saturday after the result, there was a gay pride march in London. Thousands of people took to the streets to stand together. Do you think all of them there voted the same way in the referendum? I doubt it, but it was all forgotten because they had a common cause – their cause, for that day at least, was bigger than leaving the EU.

The Euros (European football competition) are going on at the moment too. Did the Welsh, English, Northern Irish fans all vote the same in the referendum? I doubt it, but it was all forgotten because they are each cheering for the same team.

I can’t help those who don’t know Christ with this blog. I’m not trying to. I don’t know the nitty gritty of the future – truth is, no human does. What I want to do is encourage/challenge the stance of those who do know Jesus. Scripture says: “All things work together for the good for those who LOVE the Lord.” Is that true? If it is, then let’s LOVE him (and each other) more than we ever have and things will work together for good! They will! If you’ve hurt your social media friends, (whichever way you voted), by your comments, humble yourself and say sorry, publicly, if possible because that will have more power.

“The whole of creation is waiting in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” Romans 8:19

It is our shift so let’s take this chance to shine. We’ve taken hold of the baton – what are you going to do about it?

 

 

The title of this blog will become clearer as you read – honest. But first, a question: what is sin? A strange word that isn’t heard other than in religious circles. To me, sin is anything that violates God’s commands to love. Agape Love is the only way that this Christian life will work properly and the bar has been set high, but it is a bar that every Christian can at least attempt to reach. Aren’t you glad He didn’t leave us with the 613 laws of the Old Testament? If that were the case, instead of reading this, you’d probably have to go out shopping for animals for your daily sacrifices. I say, ‘thank you Lord’ that Jesus came and replaced 613 with just two. ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength’ and ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ We need to add, ‘love one another as I have loved you’ even though Jesus doesn’t say that one at the same time as the other two, He did say it and He said it to the church. This is probably the hardest part to keep because it involves loving fellow Christians which, if you’ve been around church for any length of time, can be very difficult to do. That is why He commanded it. So any act of sin disconnects you from the Father (not from your salvation, but from walking in the fullness of the blessings of God) until the point that you confess it and God forgives you. He’s promised that He will. Isn’t that great news?

“If you confess your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Even though we have great scriptures like that, it’s unrealistic to think that we, as Christians, will ever stop sinning all together, it should get less, but it will always remain. Because sin will always be with us, the church should be a place where those who struggle can come and feel safe; they can talk and get help without feeling like a useless failure or, worse still, receiving judgement and condemnation. I’m not talking about forgoing consequences, you have to live with consequences if you make wrong choices – that’s life. But agape is the answer to help those who are struggling, to a place of victory. Sadly, too many people have been judged and ‘thrown out’ (felt compelled to leave church) when what they needed was unconditional love and restoration. Do I mean that we just ignore sin in church? Of course not, like I said, consequences are a natural force after any choice we make, but we should leave the consequences to those in leadership (and hopefully they will carry them out under the banner of Agape) Our job is to make sure a person who’s failed knows that they still have value as a human being.

So, why did I call this blog, ‘Learning to wee where it can’t be seen?’

It’s a funny title that carries a serious message and it came from a conversation I was having with my daughter and son-in-law. We were discussing this issue of sin and what happens to a person whose leaders lead by fear, control and manipulation.

I don’t own a dog, but I am told that if you continually beat it for weeing in the wrong places instead of training it where to wee, because of fear of a beating, it will go off in a corner and do its business where you won’t see. It’s the same with sin. If you know that if people found out about your struggle with a certain sin and that that would lead to a beating (metaphorically speaking, well, at least I hope so!), and if you have no one you can talk to about it, you will carry on in a corner where no one can see. You’ll struggle alone. Christians mess up, we know it, but what I am saying is this, if our churches, organisations, ministry teams, environments etc. don’t create a culture of love and forgiveness, then there will be a whole lot of ‘weeing’ going on and it won’t be seen.

Some times ministry teams are places where sin issues aren’t talked about and if a team member messes up, instead of helping them through or finding out the whys of it, (forgetting the consequence for the time being), the person is judged and more often than not, sent on their way – no forgiveness or unconditional love shown. What this creates is an environment of fear where no one dare mess up and admit it. The problem with that is that people will still mess up, but they will learn how to bury it under ground so no one ever finds out. This goes on to create a very superficial atmosphere where everyone pretends that he or she is doing fine. He or she can learn how to smile, pray, worship and say all the right things. We are good at that and then we leave church or work and head to our secret life – and we will get away with it, for a while at least.

It would be so much better if we created environments that promote this verse that Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

If you’re a leader of any description, make sure that the people who you lead know that the best way to live this Christian life is to make good, solid, sound choices. Tell them not to let the enemy into areas of their lives where they feel vulnerable. Tell them to ditch their computer if they’re getting into porn, but also make sure they know that when or if they mess up, you will not condemn them, but you will provide a safe environment (maybe that would have to be another church depending on the situation) and that they will always have worth as a person. Don’t make the group you lead go off in corners to ‘wee’ where no one can see. That helps no one.

If a group or a church is lead by control and manipulation then the environment that is created is false. There will be hurting people, bound people and scared people who daren’t confess their struggles.

So let’s be patient with each other and also create an atmosphere where no one feels scared to talk about their difficulty with sin. Living in sin will limit your life, so talk to someone who can help you get free.