Santa and car horns

I saw Santa up the street this morning along with one of his elves and a real life reindeer. It didn't have horns so maybe it was a female. I guess that makes the Preston S.A. Band a male band as we have 2 horns! (boom boom). (Actually they would be antlers rather than horns but that would ruin the story. And I think the reindeer is not a reindeer but another type of deer but that would ruin the story too.)

It's interesting watching the reaction of people to this unusual sight. It brings a smile to almost everyone's face and especially the children. There are cars pulling over to the side of the road so that the kids can get out, meet Santa and have their photo taken with him, his helper and the reindeer with no horns.

Just a metre or so away is another kind of horn. A car horn. I wonder if anyone has ever done a study on whether car horns are used more at Christmas than at other times of the year. I'm sure that you could get a government grant to do one. Just say that you are studying global warming and you will instantly get $100,000-.

In that one or two metre space between Santa & the road there is a major difference in attitude. On the footpath there are smiles and joy. On the road there is road rage.

When Jesus was walking the road he managed to extract wildly different reactions from people too. On the one hand he was swamped with people looking for healing. There must have been a lot of joy and smiles as lepers were healed, as blind people saw again. And just a couple of metres away were the religious leaders seething with rage, looking for a way of killing him.

As we play carols at Christmas we get all sorts of reactions. Some people are thrilled to hear us. Others ask us to move on!

People's reactions to Jesus today are varied too. Some will embrace him with joy. Others will react with rage and want to shoot the messengers. We need to remember that as we minister to people. Not everyone appreciates God and won't appreciate us but the message has to get out there whatever the reaction.

Asleep on the job

"Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter." Matt 26:40

I am not a great tv watcher, especially when it comes to reality tv shows. However, in recent weeks I have become interested in a show called "Great British Chef", where some of the best chefs in the UK were competing to cook one of the four courses to be served to Prince Charles and one hundred others at a banquet.

The final programme was the banquet itself and the four chefs who had previously cooked their dishes for four judges now had to replicate it for 100 people. The day proved a real problem for some for various reasons but, in the end they made it through. One of the reasons was because the four chefs who had previously been competitors worked as a team to ensure that each of them got their dishes out even though seemingly insurmountable problems came up along the way.

On their own they couldn't have achieved their goal. It would have been a disaster.

When Jesus and his disciples headed to Gethsemane it would have been fair to assume that Jesus could have expected that group of men to offer the support that he needed at that time. But, unlike the chefs who all pulled together at a time of crisis, the disciples offered Jesus nothing. They fell asleep. It must have been a real disappointment to Jesus that at his time of greatest need his most devoted followers didn't discern the gravity of the situation and fell asleep leaving Jesus to cope alone.

Being able to discern when people need help is not always easy. We don't all have the ability to see past the outward appearance to the inner core of turmoil. But sometimes it is not so much a matter of lack of ability but more a habit of not looking beyond our own circumstances to see what should be obvious to us.

God has created us to work together, to help each other when circumstances are such that individually, no matter how talented we are, we can't do it alone.

I hope that I am not found to be asleep when my friends most need me be to be alert and helping them through their problems.

Bah Humbug

I was asked yesterday if I would cancel Christmas if I had the chance. Without hesitation I said yes. That wouldn't surprise anyone that knows me! But why?

Well, it is the busiest time of the year. Everything goes up a notch. The band & to a lesser extent the songsters have a lot more commitments. Also, everyone seems to think that it is a good idea to have a Christmas breakup or that Christmas is a great time to catch up. And, for the last 21 years, 31/12 has been end of financial year at work. Being a 'beanie' it means December is busy.

This year the Amazon rainforest has been trying to reclaim the block of land on which I live. The council has given me until 13th December to clear my land or they will fine me. With no free weekends before then and having had monsoon conditions almost every weekend for a couple of months, it seems an impossible task. Another reason to cancel Christmas.

And finally, on top of everything else there is the situation at work where we may well be handing people redundancy letters. Ho Ho Merry Christmas everyone.

Surely this isn't what Christmas is all about. Contrary to popular opinon (and one that I actively promote!) I do quite like Christmas music and I do listen to it in my car on my commute. This morning I grabbed a couple of Christmas cd's as I flew out of the door and on one is a song that we sang a few year ago. The chorus says:

Let the world take the glitter and the greed,
The only Christmas presence that I need
Is you beside me like you were at the start
Then I'll know it's Christmas
Then I'll know it's Christmas in my heart.

It's not going to happen, but it would be great one year to have nothing except the celebration of Christ at Christmas.

Nowhere is safe!

"When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully—someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick." Matthew 14: 13-14

Jesus had received the news of John's execution. His response was much the same as mine would have been, and probably that of most people. He wanted to get away to a secluded place to be alone and contemplate what had happened and try to come to grips with and deal with his emotions.

But, even in that remote place he was spotted and Jesus would have seen a large group of people heading his way. This is where his reaction differed to what mine would most likely have been in the same circumstances. I would have groaned and maybe tried to disappear before the crowd reached me. Or maybe I would have told them "Not now. I can't handle this at the moment".

Jesus' reaction? He was overcome with pity and healed the sick. Jesus was so full of love that often he would react in a way that was best for others rather than what was best for himself.

It's a challenge for me to examine how I react when people put demands on my life and when the circumstances aren't always convenient.

God, help me to be filled with love that has compassion for people even when it doesn't fit with what I want or think I need at the time.

A total absence of proof

"The only proof you're going to get is what looks like the absence of proof: Jonah-evidence. Like Jonah, three days and nights in the fish's belly, the Son of Man will be gone three days and nights in a deep grave." Matt 12:39-40

These days I guess we forget, or don't realise, the despair and hopelessness that must have been in the lives of Jesus' followers following his crucifixion. How could anything good possibly come out of the killing of Jesus, let alone proof of his divinity?

A few religion scholars and the obligatory Pharisees had asked Jesus to prove his credentials. "How about a miracle?", they said. Jesus responded that the evidence he was going to give them would appear to be an absence of proof i.e. his death.

Today, the things we look for as proof of Jesus' credentials are usually obvious and grand such as miracles, the great moving of the Holy Spirit in our church services and so on. We still tend to underestimate God's ability and desire to move in ways that seem, at the time, to look more like a complete absence of his presence rather than proof that he is God.

What might God be doing in my life, at my church, in the lives of my friends at the moment that looks more like a total absence of proof? And what does that say about my trust and faith in God?

No extreme makeover required

"We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives....You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at." 2 Cor 4:7-8

In recent years there have been a plethora of extreme makeover type shows on tv where people, unhappy with their appearance, have all sorts of plastic surgery and so on in order to look more beautiful.

Sometimes, when a person has a birth defect or has been burnt, this sort of treatment is totally acceptable. But on these makeover shows all too often the people are relatively average/normal. They tend to have incredibly low self esteem as a result of taunting in their life, often by family, or are just worn down by the suffocating culture of 'beauty is important' so prevalent in the western world.

Paul, we suspect, was no oil painting. Far from it. And in 2 Cor he says "we're not much to look at". Yet Paul has gone down in history as one of the world's most important people. He recognised that he had to be an 'unadorned clay pot' so as to not get in the way of God's incomparable power.

It's all about God, not us. We don't need to have an extreme makeover to be successful for God, or to be beautiful in his eyes.

Covenant is...

"Marriage is not a place to "stand up for your rights." Marriage is a decision to serve the other..." 1 Cor 7:4

A bit of waffle today!

In this chapter Paul is talking about whether to be married or single but I found this verse, or part thereof, interesting because it says something about covenant and made me think a bit about Salvation Army Soldiership too. There is so much in the scriptures about covenant, about serving one another in more than a superficial way, and it seems to me that we don't grasp the concept too well these days, or we choose not to grasp the concept because it doesn't fit with what we want.

I suppose it isn't a new problem and the fact that Paul had to address some of the issues, such as in 1 Cor 7, bears out that point. So much of our life revolves around commitments with one another - the marriage covenant, the soldier's covenant and the new covenant between Jesus and us.

There are many theories around as to why soldiership is not embraced by young people growing up in the Salvation Army these days. For some the idea is that it's a bit pointless. What difference does it make? Some years ago now a group of us from our church got together to draft some recommendations to our church leadership team about making our music groups 'open groups'. Traditionally, a person has needed to be a uniform wearing Salvationist to be a part of music group. We were opening up the groups as part of the change from the 'believing before belonging' to 'belonging before believing' concept. Some people would have seen it as dumbing down soldiership. But to me it was about raising the bar. When we think about it, it is quite ridiculous that the only time most of us Salvos wear uniform now is to attend church. It's hard to dumb down soldiership more than making it just a right of entry into a music group where uniform is worn one day a week inside of our church building. Somehow, soldiers needed to understand again a higher calling and the higher expectation of soldiers when discipling new members and building friendships with new members of our music groups who weren't yet Christians. It was, in my opinion anyway, a way of lifting the bar, not lowering of it.

Along the way it has had other consequences too as people choose to no longer wear uniform and, maybe take a step in the other direction. That's a subject for another 20 page blog though!

One reason given for not taking the step of commitment for soldiership would be that 'I don't have to be a soldier or wear uniform to be a Christian'. Similarly, many today say, 'I don't need to be married to have a successful relationship'. Both are true to an extent but my view on both is that there are times when it is important to demonstrate how important something is to us. The marriage commitment is a public showing of commitment by two people to each other. They say that they are so committed to each other that they publicly make vows that for the rest of their lives, in the good times and bad, they will stick with each other. And for a Christian it would be a commitment made in God's presence as well as in front of family and friends. They don't have to make those public vows but if you are really committed to your partner, why wouldn't you?

Salvation Army soldiership is something similar. We don't have to do it. But why wouldn't we? If we truly want to serve God why would we shy away from making a public declaration in front of friends, family and God? Certain things are important enough to make our declaration of commitment public.

So, my relationship with Jesus is not about standing up for my rights . It is a decision to serve him as He served me by going to the cross on my behalf. It is a decision to serve each other.

God, help me to remember, understand and value my relationship with you through my life as a believer and soldier of the Salvation Army.

Plain & simple

"You'll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God's master stroke, I didn't try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified." 1 Cor 2:1-2

I always tend to think of Paul as a very intelligent and persuasive personality; one who knew his scripture backwards and used the power of his oratory to encourage people into faith. This may well be true to an extent but here, Paul is reminding the Church at Corinth that his efforts to spread the gospel were simple at best. In fact, as the Message puts it, he was 'scared to death'. Yet his simple message, spread with nervousness still produced fruit. Why? Because it was God's Spirit and God's power that impressed upon the people the power of the message.

What a great encouragement and relief it is to know that even the great Paul suffered the same issues as us - nerves and insecurities. But the church still grew.

It's a reminder that God doesn't expect perfect people, and in fact, in chapter 1 we read that God chooses 'nobodies' rather than 'somebodies'. He wants people who are willing to put their faith and trust in him and believe that the Holy Spirit will do the convicting work.

Wretched computers

Computers can be fantastic things. It's hard to imagine life without them now. But, gee, they can be frustrating and make you wonder whether technology has made things more complicated than was the case prior to their invention.

I am leading our Bible Study tomorrow and for the study that I had decided to use I had a dvd, leader's guide but no participant's guide. The good part about computers/Internet is that it is possible to download a PDF version of the participant's guide. The bad part is trying to actually do it! Having found the guide I needed to purchase it. To purchase it I needed register with the supplier. Of course, registering requires a user name that hasn't already been taken and a password that requires upper case/lower case/numbers/Mesopotamian hieroglyphics, plus some Arabic and Greek letters.

Having spent 10 minutes trying to register for my $1.99 purchase the system took me to a shipping page where I had to fill in a shipping address, despite the fact that I was downloading my purchase, plus a phone number that had to be in a specific format.

Then it told me there had been an error and I needed to ring somebody to fix it. Close and reboot is always a preferable option and, on this occasion it worked and I finally purchased my $1.99 participant's guide. But wait, there's more! An email arrives with a link to download my purchase. But, of course, I have to register with another site to download my guide. Eventually, with dilating pupils, red face and raised blood pressure, the file opened and there was my precious participant's guide. It better be a good study....

The most famous verse in the Bible is, of course:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
So simple. Whoever believes. No frustration trying to register online with multiple passwords and trying to fill in Australian state names when only American states are accepted. Nothing like that. Just whoever believes.

Thank you God for making it all so simple.

Low profile servant

"He settled on twelve, and designated them apostles. The plan was that they would be with him, and he would send them out to proclaim the Word and give them authority to banish demons. These are the Twelve:...." Mark 3:14

I've read this passage on a few occasions but I will still never win a Bible trivia contest that asks me to names the 12 apostles. I cannot even remember the names of people I see every week. I still require several minutes to bring the names to mind, or have someone prompt me!

In this list of names it is those with a low profile that I can never remember. Simon Peter is well known as is Judas Iscariot. But then there is Bartholomew and Thaddeus, hardly household names.

Jesus chose these people. It's interesting that he didn't choose an all star cast. I guess you could say he went into the game with a fiery fast bowler, a spinner, a flashy batsman and a couple of dour middle order batsmen plus some line and length bowlers (Oh, and one match fixer!).

I don't need to be flashy to be chosen by God. If it's good enough for some apostles chosen by Jesus to be dour, low profile, yet important members of his team, then it's good enough for me too.

Thank you for having faith in me God.

We still have to do our part

'Don't give up, Paul. You're going to stand before Caesar yet—and everyone sailing with you is also going to make it.' Acts 27:24

Paul must have thought he was doomed. The ship he was on had been in the middle of a massive storm. He said it had been many days since they had seen sun or stars and "we lost all hope of rescue." Then an angel visited and told him they would all be saved but they would still be shipwrecked on some island or other.

I would probably be tempted to just sit back, do nothing and wait until the ship hit rocks or the shore, since God had said all would be saved. But not Paul. He still did the stuff that you would normally do if survival was uncertain. He got the soldiers to intervene when some of the crew tried to jump ship. He insisted on everyone eating breakfast so that they would have strength for the rescue. And grain was dumped overboard to lighten the ship prior to running for shore.

Why bother when God had already assured them of survival? Why worry if half the crew jumped ship or the ship was sitting too low in the water to run safely to land?

When God assures us that something good is going to happen or he is going to rescue us from a tight spot, it doesn't mean we sit down, put our feet up and let God do all the work. We still need to work as though the result is still in doubt.

The Bible is full of promises, not the least of which is that if we put our faith and trust in Jesus then our future beyond this life is assured. But do we put our feet up and relax because God has promised us an eternity with him? Certainly not. The story today is a reminder to me that trusting God for his provision in my life is not an invitation to bludge but is, instead, an invitation to roll up the sleeves and be an active part of the fulfilment of his promises.

It's not always black and white

"Their message to Paul, from insight given by the Spirit, was "Don't go to Jerusalem."" Acts 21:4
"The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. Can't you see that?"" Acts 21:13

So, who was correct - the believers in Tyre who claimed insight from the Spirit, or Paul who saw the visit to Jerusalem as obedience to the Master? Surely they can't both be right.

When Paul got to Jerusalem it appeared to me that he compromised the Christian message a bit by buying peace with the locals rather than being strong on the view that Christians were no longer slaves to the law and the old Jewish ways.

Later still, when the Roman captain, determined to get to the bottom of the riot involving Paul ordered a meeting with Paul and the Jewish leaders. Paul, knowing the hatred that existed between the Pharisees & Sadducees, deliberately and somewhat mischievously, drew them into a factional argument which ended up with them at each others' throats. Was that a Christian thing to do? Would we see it as right for someone today to deliberately orchestrate conflict between Catholics and Protestants?

Life is complex and decision making isn't always black and white in spite of our Christian values and beliefs. There are many shades of grey as seen in Paul's circumstances and choices in just 3 chapters of Acts.

Having people in your life whose wisdom you trust is important. But it's also vitally important to be close enough to God to recognise his voice when complex decision making is required.

Ridiculing without mercy

""I'm ridiculed by my friends:
'So that's the man who had conversations with God!'
Ridiculed without mercy:
'Look at the man who never did wrong!'" Job 12:4

In these chapters of Job it's often easy to agree with Zophar and others who came to Job and offered their wisdom. They spoke truth. It made sense. Sam Kekovich would tell us that we know it makes sense! But there is something not quite right here.

Job responded by saying that he was ridiculed by his friends; ridiculed without mercy. We could question whether these people were actually his friends in the first place. But the phrase 'without mercy' jumps out at me. How often do we make judgement on people when we haven't walked a mile or two in their moccasins? Do we then ridicule them without mercy by telling them what they don't need to hear from us instead of trying to understand their pain in some way?

Lord help me not to be too legalistic in my judgement of people; to have more patience and compassion, and most of all, not to ridicule people without mercy.

Environment = Attitude

I have just had an interesting reminder about how important it is to develop a positive and affirming workplace/church. I wandered up the street to a shop where a couple of items had arrived that I had had on order. Behind the counter was a young lady that I recognised from another shop just across the road. Apparently she works at both places.

The interesting thing was that the lady I met today was bright, happy, vivacious, engaging etc. The lady I see at the other establishment is surly, unhappy and detached. It's almost a Jekyll & Hyde situation.

The bright, happy version works in a shop that has a history of great, personal service. The surly, unhappy version works at a place that isn't known for the quality of its service or the value it places on its customers.

It isn't often that you get to see such a comparison because the same person doesn't work in two different places. In this instance there was an opportunity to compare apples with apples so to speak. And what a difference. I would suggest it all comes down to the difference between the two work environments.

We don't always have an opportunity to signficantly influence the culture of the place where we work or worship and that can be frustrating. But, nevertheless, we can do our part to be a positive, affirming type of person who makes a difference to those around us.

If we happen to be in a leadership position we have a huge opportunity (and responsibility) to build a great culture that makes people feel valued and makes our environment a really attractive one to be a part of. And for a church that is crucial.

Being handpicked

"Not everyone saw him—he wasn't put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand—us!" Acts 10:41

Peter was talking about the resurrected Christ. Not everyone saw him - only those who had been handpicked by God.

I suppose it's entirely up to God to choose whoever he wants for whatever task has to be done. And only God really knows why he does it and how those people will react. Why did God choose Saul? Why didn't he choose Stalin, after all he persecuted believers too?

As far as the resurrection was concerned I wonder what the criteria was for those handpicked. Maybe they were the ones who were most loyal to Jesus. Maybe they were those who deep down still believed. Maybe they were chosen because they were open to God and willing to do what God wanted to do through them.

And what about those who were not handpicked? Could it have been that they were cynical and negative people, maybe openly antagonistic to God? Were they the type to jump ship at the first sign of trouble?

The wonderful thing about Acts is seeing what can happen when people are open to the Holy Spirit in their lives - not allowing generations of rules and negativism ruin their relationship with God.

God, may your Holy Spirit work miracles through me. May I be open to what you want to do through me and if that happens to be something which challenges my world view please help me to have the courage to plough ahead anyway.

Grace & forgiveness

"So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul, and said, "Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on your way here. He sent me so you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."" Acts 9:17

Ananias called Saul, 'Brother'. That is amazing. Saul had wreaked havoc on the church and persecuted so many souls that, for Ananias to called him 'Brother', is remarkable.

Yes, Jesus had given him the 'Don't argue', but it is still one thing for Ananias to go and lay hands on Saul as commanded, but another thing altogether to call him a brother.

When we are in the business of serving Jesus we are brothers and sisters irrespective of our past. There are few more pointed examples in history of this than that of Ananias and Saul. It called for Ananias to forgive immediately, without having any evidence of contrition from Saul, the sins that Saul had committed against the church, as heinous as they had been.

Forgiveness is not hard until a great crime has been committed against us. Under those circumstances forgiveness really becomes evidence of God's grace.

Lord, help me to have a forgiving heart, one that is an example of the power of your grace.

The joys of leadership...

"Some time before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of The Temple of God. He was close to Tobiah and had made available to him a large storeroom that had been used to store Grain-Offerings, incense, worship vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil for the Levites, singers, and security guards, and the offerings for the priests." Neh 13:4-5

Nehemiah must have thought that life would now be all good. The walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. The leaders and other families had moved in. There were great celebrations as people turned back to God. Mission accomplished. But, when he returned to Jerusalem following a trip to Babylon he found a heap of problems:
- Eliahsib had given a room in the Temple of God to his mate Tobiah
- The Levites hadn't been given their food allotment and had gone back to their farms
- A whole lot of stuff was being sold on the Sabbath
- Jews were marrying foreigners

Whether I agree with what Nehemiah believed was right or wrong is another story. But what I see in this passage (for me at least) is the fact that, when you are in leadership the story is never over. It doesn't matter what century or millennium you live in. There are periods when all is well - times of celebration when people are getting on and doing the right thing. But, inevitably it will go pear shaped.

Leaders have to expect that life as a leader won't always be easy. We need to enjoy and celebrate the good times but not be lulled into a false sense of security because the next drama will be waiting just around the corner.

Feels so good

Today is the day when the majority of Salvation Army Officer (ministers) moves are announced. Just a few weeks ago we learnt that our associate officer, Christine, was being moved. Today we find out that our senior officers, Daryl & Sandy are also being moved. I am frustrated and disillusioned and probably many things in between but that is probably all that I should write about it today! (Having said that, my frustration is with the 'system'. Michael & another Christine are our new officers and I am absolutely looking forward to working with them!!)

When we have days that leave us feeling down it's sometimes not a bad thing to listen to some music that reminds us of good times. I think most of us would have those songs where, from the very first bar we are transported back to those happy times. For me, as a young adult, a guy by the name of Chuck Mangione, a jazz flugal horn player, released an album called Feels So Good. Even now, 30 years on it still reminds me of good times, carefree summer holidays at the beach or wherever.

The original has been re-recorded and the link below now includes vocals. Given some of the lyrics you would never be able to pass it off as a Christian song but if you remove a couple of lines it could go close to being a love song to God!

http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzIpFvU1NP0&feature=related

And, Christian song or not, it reminds me that it still 'feels so good' to be a follower of Jesus.

Holy Spirit poll results

"Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them." Acts 2:3-4

For those of us who have been Christians for a while, or were brought up in the church and therefore thoroughly indoctrinated, it is difficult to divorce ourselves from this knowledge and look at Pentecost through 21st century, unbelieving eyes. I wonder what people today, who know nothing about Christianity, would expect the results of the Holy Spirit's arrival to look like.

I suspect that if there were an online poll the list of options would be as long as your arm but most responses would be a mirror of our own individual values not those that match God's character.

So, from this chapter of Acts there are two things that I see which, I think, reflect God's priorities. Because, if there is this massive event where God's Spirit suddenly fills a room and the people in it, you would expect that what follows would reflect who God is.

Firstly, as soon as the Holy Spirit came upon the people in the room their first instinct was not to talk amongst themselves about what had happened but was actually to tell others about God. And, in fact, the giving of different languages would be a totally useless skill to have within their group. The first thing that God did was give something that was only of value if used for others outside of the fellowship. The languages were given so that the message could be conveyed to all people, not just a select few.

And secondly, people started selling their possessions, pooling the resources and helping the poor.

This combination of making God known through the spiritual redemption and the practical, hands on outworking of God's values, to me at least, shows the priorities of God and gives me a framework for my life.

I guess the challenge is to try and order my life in a way that does justice to that mission.

God will look after me

"I was embarrassed to ask the king for a cavalry bodyguard to protect us from bandits on the road. We had just told the king, "Our God lovingly looks after all those who seek him, but turns away in disgust from those who leave him."" Ezra 8:22

The king had been incredibly generous to Ezra giving silver & gold to beautify the temple in Jerusalem. The trouble was they had to trek through dangerous territory to get there; territory inhabited by bandits. With vast amounts of precious metals they were bound to be a target. Yet, Ezra had confidently told the king of God's protection so he couldn't really then ask for cavalry bodyguards.

Life tosses up this these tests of faith to us. We Christians are conditioned to say the right things that sound good and pious, but much of the time we aren't then placed in a position where we have to actually trust God for the things we have blithely mouthed about.

Every now and then we will find ourselves in a situation where faith will have to be displayed or else we will discredit God by not walking the talk.

Uncomfortable with this idea of revenge

"On the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, they killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them but did not take any plunder." Esther 9:17

That's ok then. So long as they didn't take any plunder. There were only 75000 people slaughtered. No worries.

Excuse my sarcasm but I sometimes struggle with the barbarity of the Old Testament. I love the book of Esther but it ends on a sour note for me. This probably isn't a particularly uplifting blog today but a mere observation.

Ok. So the entire Jewish race was going to be wiped out until the king realised that Mordecai had once warned of an assassination attempt against him. So the king repealed the law that Haman had petitioned for, the extermination of the Jews, and instead allowed Mordecai & Esther to order the slaughter of those who hated them.

Where is the justice in this? I'm afraid I can't see it. They weren't protecting themselves as such as the king had already repealed his original order. This was just revenge for revenge's sake. Bloodthirsty, barbaric, and I suspect indiscriminate killing. I would be staggered if there weren't at least several thousand completely innocent people butchered amongst the 75000 killed in the frenzy that a government sanctioned ethnic cleansing created.

I would like to think that I would have acted differently but history tells us that humanity has a habit of committing inhumane acts. Revenge & justice are two different things. Whilst the indiscriminate killing of people is something that isn't a part of our culture in Australia, thank goodness, revenge in its different forms is.

Justice - yes, fight for it. Revenge - no.

Religious bouncers

"He yelled, "Jesus! Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!"
Those ahead of Jesus told the man to shut up, but he only yelled all the louder, "Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!"" Luke 18:38-39

I wonder how many people fail to get access to Jesus as a result of church body guards. There are people in the church who try to protect 'things', maybe tradition or heritage or they may support an unbiblical doctrine, and in the process stop people from getting to Jesus. Those people aren't always making a deliberate attempt to stop people. Often their misplaced zeal inadvertantly becomes a road block.

This man in the story wasn't going to be so easily silenced. He just yelled louder until he attracted Jesus' attention. People today who are determined enough will find a way around the religious bouncers too, but many won't. They will give up.

I wonder what the 'advance party' of Jesus thought when they saw the man healed. Were they excited? Did they realise that they should have been making a pathway to Jesus rather than setting up barricades to prevent desperate people from reaching him? Or, did they secretly promise to work harder next time to control the crowd.

People need to meet the Lord! I need to ensure that nothing I do hinders that, and whatever influence I have I need to use to make a clear, easy and compelling pathway for people to reach Jesus.

God, forgive me for the times that I make the road to you harder to traverse than it should be. Help me to see the blockages that I have created.

Don't forget God's generosity

"Jesus said "were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except the outsider?"" Luke 17:17-18

In the 11 1/2 years that I worked for NAB, not once did I get a free lunch out of the bank. On my very first day at Western Bulk Carriers we went out to lunch and the company paid. Many times over my 21 years at WBC & EBC the company has paid for lunch or the Christmas party, plus soft drinks, biscuits and fruit in the office....It's an incredibly generous company to work for.

The story in Luke 17 tells us that ten lepers called out to Jesus for help. He healed them all. Yet only one came back to thank Jesus and offer praise to God. And, as Jesus remarked, he was a Samaritan, an outsider.

It's sometimes easy for me to forget how fortunate I am at work. It's sometimes easy for Christians to take for granted all that God has done for us because we have become used to being on the receiving end of his generosity. I'm sure that quite often it is the 'outsiders' who recognise their blessings from God and praise him more than 'us Christians' who, if we are not careful, become blasé about receiving God's gifts.

Forgive me God for the times, probably regular times, that I just expect to receive from you and overlook your blessings or accept them without offering thanks and praise.

Religion or People

"When you held days of fasting every fifth and seventh month all these seventy years, were you doing it for me? And when you held feasts, was that for me? Hardly. You're interested in religion, I'm interested in people." Zech 7:5-6

When we do something over a long period of time we can sometimes lose focus on the reason why we do it. The people from Bethel had been following their days of mouring and abstinence for 70 years and were looking for God's blessing as to whether they should continue to hold their ceremonies as they had done for many years. God's response via Zechariah was as per the verses above.

It must have come as a bit of a shock to them. I doubt whether they were expecting quite that response. How would they have reacted? Would they be outraged or would they have mulled over the response and realised that, yes, they had indeed forgotten the reason why these times were remembered and they had become nothing more than some religious rule keeping.

As a denomination, the Salvos are still doing some things that were done years ago. But I wonder whether some of the things we do have become religious rule keeping or whether we still remember the original purpose. The response may be different from person to person.

Are we still interested in the people? A couple of verses on we read this:

"Well, the message hasn't changed. God-of-the-Angel-Armies said then and says now:
"'Treat one another justly.
Love your neighbors.
Be compassionate with each other.
Don't take advantage of widows, orphans, visitors, and the poor.
Don't plot and scheme against one another—that's evil.'"

It's a constant message. Don't forget the reason for your existence. Don't get caught up in rule keeping for rule keeping's sake. Remember what is important to God not religious leaders.. And so on...

Remind me again God of your values and your love for people. Remind me again about the reason for doing the stuff we do.

Messiah's misfits

One of my memories of growing up was listening to brass band cassettes that my grandfather had received from Uncle Rog in England. These recordings were usually of British radio programmes such as Listen to the Band.

I sometimes have a bit of a chuckle when brass band people try to convince us that banding is popular or that there is a revival of interest in brass banding. The simple reality is that we get a mere 1 hour of banding per week on our radio and that is on two of the lowest rating radio stations in Melbourne.

However, thanks to the wonders of technology, we can listen to programmes from the other side of the world streamed on the internet. Today, as I have been working on a balance sheet and profit and loss statement I have had headphones on listening to the afforementioned 'Listen to the Band' programme on BBC2. Cory & Black Dyke massed bands played the magnificent 'Elsa's Procession to the Minster' which, incidentally, our own Preston Band used to play when we were more than a quartet!

My interest in brass bands compared to society's lack of interest reminds me of this verse in the Bible: "It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We're something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We're the Messiah's misfits." 1 Cor 4:9

Christians & brass band people both tend to be misfits in the eyes of the world. As Salvos we are double misfits I guess. Being a Christian often feels like trying to sell tickets that no one wants to buy. It can be tough. But Paul, who wrote this verse, was part of a group of people that had a massive influence in the world, even if at times it didn't feel like it to them. So, even though it often feels as though we are swimming against the tide we need to continue to be faithful in spreading God's message to those who need to hear.

God, help me to be faithful in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

The key to life

"One of the religion scholars spoke up: "Teacher, do you realize that in saying these things you're insulting us?"" Luke 11:45

I'm not sure whether the scholar was trying to be polite or was a bit thick. What a silly question to ask. Jesus had just said that their insides were maggoty with greed and secret evil. He called them stupid, frauds, hopeless, unmarked graves with rot and corruption under a nice grassy surface. And the scholar asked Jesus if we was aware that he had insulted them! Jesus then went on and gave them a bit more.

There is a bit of a problem when religious leaders seem to be totally oblivious to their evil and corruption.

Amongst other things Jesus said "you took the key of knowledge, but instead of unlocking doors, you locked them. You won't go in yourself, and won't let anyone else in either". That's a terrible indictment of the Pharisees.

In reality I guess we all have issues where our inward lives don't match up to the outward show we put on. Hopefully I am not as bad as a Pharisee but what an indictment it would be on me to have the key to life and not use it or, even worse, deliberately prevent others from using it either.

God, help me to become more transparent. Show me the hypocritical areas of my life where I don't seem to be able to see what should be obvious.

What would they see in 3 hours?

"In the next two or three hours Jesus healed many from diseases, distress, and evil spirits. To many of the blind he gave the gift of sight. Then he gave his answer: "Go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard:..."" Luke 7:21

John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to enquire of Jesus whether he was 'the one' or whether they were still waiting. Jesus could have just said "of course I am" and that would have been it. But he didn't. He made the disciples hang around for 2 or 3 hours and proceeded to heal lots of people. The actions were the proof, not the words.

If people were to spend 2 or 3 hours at Preston Salvos would they be convinced about God because of what they saw? If people spent 2 or 3 hours with me what would be the outcome?

Interestingly, the verse uses the word 'many' but not 'all'. Many were healed from diseases and many of the blind were healed. Presumably then, some weren't. So, we shouldn't expect a 100% strike rate or perfection in everything we do but, nevertheless, people should be more likely to consider God as a result of my actions than not. And actions do have more power than words.

Do I leave an impression?

As I was drinking my orange juice this morning at an eating establishment that shall remain unnamed, I became aware that the container was leaking. Apart from the fact that the puddle on the floor gave the impression that I had had an accident, some had also dripped onto my trousers. It is usually when you are wearing something light that this happens and today, of course, I was wearing something light and the stain showed up more than would otherwise have been the case.

A little later on as the 'orange juice' dried I noticed that it hadn't left a stain at all. Which just proves my long held suspicions that the 'orange juice' sold at this establishment contains little, if any, orange juice or anything else of any substance for that matter.

When you are in the habit of writing a blog, or are an minister of religion who preaches a sermon every Sunday, you start to think of christian applications for these incidents. Rather sad really! But I wondered whether what I am involved in or what I say or do leaves any trace. After the initial activity does my influence vanish without trace? Is the impact of my life as weak and fake as my so called orange juice?

Mike Pilley wrote this morning about fruit. You can read it here:
http://mrpilley.blogspot.com/2010/09/fruity.html
I hope the fruit of my life is a more powerful and real than my morning orange juice!

Underestimating people

"All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, "Isn't this Joseph's son, the one we've known since he was a youngster?"" Luke 4:22

In the 'olden days' we used to regularly have visits from the band or choir of other Salvo churches. Quite often these were powerful weekends when people shared and God moved in the lives of the locals. I have often pondered on why there seemed to be a very strong presence of God when a group was visiting but not necessarily so when it was just a normal Preston meeting.

Luke 4:14 says that "Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit". Yet, even with that power he couldn't seem to achieve much in his home town and was, in fact, run out of town.

The people there knew Jesus. They knew who he was and knew his background. Full of the Spirit he might have been but the locals couldn't see past who he was - the local kid from Nazareth. And so it was, I suspect, with visitors from other Salvo churches compared to our own people. When we don't know their past, all their faults and meltdowns, we can accept what God does through them. But when we know the past we can't see past their failings and so are unwilling or unable to accept that they might be 'powerful in the Spirit' and that God wants to work through them.

Maybe there are no real big black marks against them but if we have seen them grow up it's sometimes hard to accept that they might be, to use a Bruce McAvaney term, 'special'.

When I look at the people I see every week, and in many cases have known for many years, I have to remember that God can, and does, work through them. Ordinary, failed people they may be but I should never understimate God's ability to work through them.

An unbeliever's 'prayer'

"The king caved in and ordered Daniel brought and thrown into the lions' den. But he said to Daniel, "Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this."" Daniel 6:16

How much of Daniel's eventual safety was due to the faith of Darius? Even though he wasn't a Jew; even though he had signed into law, through arrogance, his own worship, he still trusted in God to get Daniel out of the circumstance he was in.

Would God have still saved Daniel even if Darius had wanted to kill him? Maybe, but I still have this feeling for some reason that God listened to the faith of Darius as well as that of Daniel.

God probably uses non Christians to fulfil his desires, or even answers their prayers far more often that we realise.

Who in my life right now is God using, and in what way, even though they may not profess a faith in God?

Help me God not to be so blind to the way you use all people and listen to even those who may worship other Gods or themselves.

God is real and knowable

"I, Jesus, sent my Angel to testify to these things for the churches. I'm the Root and Branch of David, the Bright Morning Star." Rev 22:16

"Under the Executive Minister, Dr Francis McNab, the large congregation has adopted a liberal and progressive theology that sits on the forefront of radical thought."

This is the boast on St Michael's Uniting Church website. I am quite liberal these days in a lot of my thinking but I have quite a way to go to reach the 'radical thought' that is a part of this particular church. Their God is not my God and their Jesus is not my Jesus. A reading of their Ten Point Charter leaves me with the same feeling as shaking the hand of someone with a limp hand shake! I'm afraid it totally lacks power and spark, in my humble opinion. Why?

"I, Jesus... the Bright Morning Star" said my reading today. I believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In Him I have meaning and hope. He is the salvation of the world. He is real, not abstract. Jesus was divine, not just a good man.

I worship you God. I thank you for being knowable and personal and a loving presence in my life.

Lasting words

It's 5 years to the day since I was lamenting a period of tough scripture readings (My reading plan at this time of the year has me in Ezekiel & Revelation each day). And as I shared it with Cathy Christelow I received an SMS back reminding me that there was a message in the Word for me that day. I just needed to persist.

I think of that advice often because some quite large slabs of the Bible are hard to read. Recently I have been finding it hard going again and I have a tendency to skip parts of my reading or only give it a superficial read and then wonder why I get nothing out of it. I have then grabbed my old journals and found that in other years I have obviously read the same passage with a different focus because back then I gained some interesting insights into what those passages meant to me.

Two lessons today:

1) There is no point in opening the Bible if we aren't focused on hearing from God. We have to believe that God's word has a message for us every time we open it up. Sometimes we just need to work a bit harder to find that message!

2) Words of encouragement are really important. We don't recall every bit of encouragement that we receive but sometimes we receive a word that sticks and keeps on giving year in, year out. So, a few words via sms from Cathy 5 years ago continue to come back to me on a regular basis.

Hearing from God

" I hear this most gentle whisper from one I never guessed would speak to me." Ps 81:5

It is so difficult to get your voice heard in the world. Often it is a case of not what you know but who you know that gets your voice heard. Other times you need to be loud or 'different' or controversial to get yourself some attention (cue the lunatic pastor in America or the Australian lawyer who think that burning religious books is smart).

This is the way of the world.

But not for the first time in scripture we see God coming in a quiet way (although other translations of vs 5 are less clear). We need to be consciously trying to engage God in order to hear him if he comes with a gentle whisper.

The Psalmist also says "I never guessed (He) would speak to me". Most of us would say that too. Who are we that God would choose to speak to us? If we don't have a high profile, if we don't have some influential person to open a few doors for us, if we don't do something outrageous to draw God's attention, then what hope do we have? Yet, God does want to speak to us.

Interesting isn't it that the God of the universe, the Creator, wants to speak to us and yet we don't think that he would want to and so don't spend time listening for his gentle voice.

At church we have come off a very busy weekend with lots of people returning for our 125th anniversary. It was loud both in terms of the music and the number of conversations going on between people who hadn't seen each other for some time. Some people leave events like that exilerated and energised. I came away drained. Maybe I just don't like crowds. But it has reminded me of the fact that in the frentetic pace of events and the loudness of gathered crowds it's sometimes hard to hear from God, even in a place designed specifically for that purpose.

God forgive me for not listening and not expecting to hear from you even though you have made it clear that you want to have this strong relationship with me.

World's most liveable city

"Astonished, passersby can't believe what they see. They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem. Is this the city voted "Most Beautiful" and "Best Place to Live"? Lamentations 2:15

When I read this I immediately thought of the line once bragged about by Melbourne - "Melbourne voted the world's most liveable city". So it also was with Jerusalem it seems. Yet eventually Judah was invaded and exiled to Babylon. It was the most horrendous time in its history. A classic case of price before a fall.

In the book of Obadiah we read of the judgement of Edom which was a mortal enemy of Judah. Obadiah wrote "you stood there & watched. You were as bad as they were. You shouldn't have gloated over your brother when he was down and out". And so on...

There are messages of pride and justice here.
Pride - Let's not think of ourselves better than we ought. No bragging. Times can change very quickly.
Justice - sometimes we stand, watch and gloat at an enemy's suffering. Eventually Judah ruled Edom. What goes around comes around.

God help me to leave pride behind and to help when another is suffering, not gloat over their suffering, especially if they are my enemies.

The shrinking army

"All the army officers....accompanied by all the people, small and great, came to Jeremiah the prophet and said, "We have a request. Please listen. Pray to your God for us, what's left of us. You can see for yourself how few we are! Pray that your God will tell us the way we should go and what we should do."" Jer 42: 1-3

So, how did it work out? At the end of the chapter Jeremiah says "Well, now I've told you, told you everything he said, and you haven't obeyed a word of it, not a single word..."

Two things come to mind: 1) When I read "all the army officers" I thought of the Salvos (only a Salvo would think of that!) - you can see how small we are. What should we do? There are some parallels there between the remnants of Judah and the Salvation Army. And 2) having asked for guidance they didn't listen to a word of God's answer.

Well, we are a shrinking army, in the western world anyway. But do we listen to God when he gives his answers to our prayers? Often we, both individually and as an organisation, go to God with our request and also secretly with the answer that we almost demand God gives us. If the answer doesn't fit, we won't listen to it.

The end of chapter 42 is quite gruesome - "So now let me tell you what will happen next: You'll be killed, you'll starve to death, you'll get sick and die in the wonderful country where you've determined to go and live." They certainly got their comeuppance. We have to be careful not to ask God for an answer and then refuse to listen to it and wilfully do the opposite.

What sort of mindset do I have?

I find it interesting, but not surprising, that I don't feel like reading the Bible at the times that I really need to read it. Today is one of those days. I have received some news that hasn't exactly made me a happy chappy! One sage piece of advice that I received from Kevin Grigsbey when he was our Corps Officer (minister) was that he never mailed a letter until the following day that he had written when he was angry. So, I won't blog today on my thoughts. Yet, as I opened my old journals from previous years I read something that I needed to read. So, even though I didn't feel like reading Kings, Chronicles, Jeremiah & Revelation today I have still received a message that I needed to hear. This is my 7th Sept 2006 journal:

"The evil mindset spread to the leaders and priests and filtered down to the people...." 2 Chr 36:14.

People in leadership positions have a lot of pulling power over the people they lead. Their influence can be considerable. When we look at countries such as North Korea or Cuba we see countries ruled by the influence of one man. But they wouldn't survive if their influence had not spread to other leaders and the military.

Evil leaders tend to spread fear but leaders of God need to lead in different ways.

It is a challenge to us and to me to think about what mindset we have and what is being filtered down to others we have the privilege of leading. We have a responsibility to ensure that the mindset we spread is one that demonstrates the characteristics of God.

God, with the influence that I have, help me to be an influence that brings people closer to you and demonstrates your values.

Who is God... really?

"Am I going to put up with questions from people like you, Israel? As sure as I am the living God, I, God, the Master, refuse to be called into question by you!" Ezekiel 20:31

As we have moved into a kinder, gentler era where everyone can believe whatever they like, we have subtly redefined who God is. In fact, we could possibly suggest that all generations do it as we are tempted to make God in our image. So, God from one generation to the next looks remarkably like the generation of that time.

We tend to call God into question. Sometimes in our kinder, gentler generations we say "Nah, God doesn't judge like that. God is love." In the more barbaric generations such as the Crusades we have tended to take judgement into our own hands as that is what we assume God would want us to do.

God, in Ezekiel says "I refuse to be called into question by you." We don't have any right to question God's judgement just because he doesn't happen to fit our mould at the time.

This is where we need to read the scripture with eyes open to see who God is...really.

God, help me not to be blinded by the here and now and, in the process, completely miss who you really are.

Have a nice day

In what job would you find the grumpiest people? How about newsagents? When I visit the two newsagents close to work I get the feeling that I am a major interruption to their day. I usually have to wait to be served even if there are no people in the shop, then I am greeted with a surly look. No smile, often no eye contact, no thanks and maybe a gruff "do you want that it a bag?". Today I was made to wait (no one in the shop), no eye contact, definitely no smile but I did get "have a nice day" (minus the smile and eye contact) as I left!

I sometimes watch Christians too. Do we act differently when people know we are Christians to when they don't? And, does it matter? Well, yes and no. Yes, because if we are known to be a Christian (for us Salvos, maybe when we are in uniform) then people often form an opinion of all Christians on the basis of the behaviour of one. Suffice to say then that they often accept or reject God on the basis of our behaviour. On the other hand, no it doesn't make a difference because we are God's representatives whether other people are aware of it or not. And who knows what opportunities will present themselves if we come across as people who actually care about those we are dealing with.

As I read our Pastor's blog (Major Daryl) currently serving in Haiti, there is a recurring theme. It's about being a real follower of Christ. No flashy tee shirts screaming "look at me I'm a Christian"; not using our position of power over people (UN trucks refusing to sit in traffic like everyone else); not being the boss by standing and watching or giving orders but by earning respect by pitching in and doing the hard yards.

My 'friendly' neighbourhood newsagent has once again reminded me of how important it is to try and not stuff up the relationships that I have with the people I meet. With every contact that I have during the day, whether I know the person or not, is important to act in a way that doesn't trash the name of God.

Prayers are not offered in vain

"Each had a harp and each had a bowl, a gold bowl filled with incense, the prayers of God's holy people." Rev 5:9

It's that time of the year again when my daily readings come from Ezekiel and Revelation. It isn't the easiest combination of readings. There is the grim judgement of Ezekiel and the apocalyptic stuff of Revelation which is hard to understand. Today's reading talks of the four animals and twenty four elders. I have no real idea of what it all means but one verse mentions the prayers of God's holy people.

There are times when we wonder whether our prayers have gone the distance. Often at work, someone on the other side of the world will complain that they haven't received an email that we have sent. It has just disappeared into cyberspace. And I often wonder whether the same thing happens with my prayers.

This verse tells me that my prayers have reached heaven. They haven't been lost or ignored. I might not understand how, why or when God does things, just as I don't understand the book of Revelation, but I take comfort in the fact that my prayers are not lost. Maybe they are being stored for just the right time to be released as incense.

Thank you God for the reminder that you hear my prayers.

Extravagant

It's interesting how some little things from your childhood tend to stick with you and impact on your life as you get older. When I was attending primary school in England I recall the ritual of trying to obtain a new exercise book. I would take my book to the teacher who would scour every page to ensure that the book had been fully utilised. More often than not the teacher would find a blank space measuring about 1 inch square and I would be sent away to fill it in before I would be issued with a new book.

We didn't throw anything away then either. Every last crumb from the corn flakes packet would be used and every last scrape of margarine would be used before the container was washed to be used to store something else.

Now, years later, I still find it hard to throw anything out or leave lines unused in a book. When completing my Life Journal entry each day I nearly always use exactly one page because two pages is too much and to use 1 1/2 pages would be a waste of 1/2 page. The organised part of me says that I can't start my Life Journal half way down a page. The Shrinks would have fun with me.

My old British primary school could hardly have been described as extravangant and most of the time, nor am I.

A couple of weeks ago I blogged on reckless love and today there is this passage: "Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that." Ephesians 5:1

There is nothing frugal about God. He is reckless and extravagant. And most of all he was extravagant with his Son. And Jesus gave everything of himself to us. Not a bit or 75%, nor 99%, but everything!

How extravagant am I in return?

Perfect waste

I've been very fortunate today to go to the tennis centre for lunch. As we are a company that spends oodles of money on seats and meals at the Australian Open two of us were invited to a tasting of the menu for the 2011 event. So, we indulged in a tasting of 4 entrees and 4 main courses plus a vast number of desserts and ice creams that will be offered to the Gold corporates. There were also 4 different wines to taste which, being a good Salvo, I chose to ignore. It's a great way to spend a work day I must say!

But the question that always arises is, what happens to all of the food not eaten. For example, two people on our table didn't show up. They would have been catered for. Of course, food handling laws require that most of it be thrown out. Sometimes when you can't see it it doesn't seem so bad. But on this occasion sitting on long trestle tables were examples of the food that will be on offer in the 'lesser' dining rooms. Large platters full of steaks and chops, prawns and slabs of salmon. All of it beautifully cooked and every last bit of it destined for the rubbish bin. In fact, as the chefs prepared it they would have known that its only purpose was for display, never to be eaten. It's an incredible waste. It's criminal.

There is also a lot of waste of life in our world. Tonight on tv is the documentary on Ben Cousins, a guy who has managed to turn his life around and hopefully will keep on doing so. But for every relative success story like Cousins there will be plenty of examples of those who didn't manage it. Beautiful creations of God - a human example of the food platter, a fantastic creation but ending up as waste. I guess this is one of the reasons why our denomination, the Salvos, exists, to try to ensure that none of God's beautiful, perfect creations ever ends up in the garbage. Every life created by God has great potential. It would be criminal if we just stood by and watched them self destruct.

It's somewhat frustrating sitting in an office 5 days a week, and spending most of my 'ministry' time in music activities. It doesn't seem quite right.

Steadfastly miserable

"With money in your pocket, you are wise and you are handsome, and you sing well, too." Yiddish Proverb.

A few years back a network of university economists in Britain produced a report entitled "The Scots May Be Brave, But They are Neither Healthy Nor Happy". It found that Scots were still as miserable as they were in 1973 despite incomes rising more than elsewhere in the UK.

The European Union have a "scale of happiness" which they used to analyse data compiled over a 30 year period. The conclusion being that "the Scots have remained steadfastly miserable for 30 years."

But it is not just 'the Scots who have remained steadfastly miserable'. We still don't seem to understand that increased wealth does not mean increased happiness.

I work in Kew where there are a number of exclusive private schools close by. There are no shortage of BMW's, Mercedes, Audi's, Range Rovers and other assortered expensive 4wd's. Most of them seem to be driven by attractive blond women. I wouldn't mind betting that the husbands cannot sing and are not handsome, but they do have money and so fit the abovementioned proverb perfectly.

I often wonder whether those families are happy. There is plenty of wealth but is there a sense of peace and joy in the home?

I am no expert of course but it seems to me that in spite of all of our learning over the centuries we have moved further away from the source of peace and happiness, God. More than ever we are beholden to possessions and the drive to be happy without God.

Two quotes have caught my attention over the weekend. The first one, either by chance or by divine purpose, I have seen twice, once in an email from a Salvo friend and then on my desk calendar - "The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

The second quote was from the newly elected member for Melbourne, Adam Brandt - "We need more love in this world, not less."

Happiness & love. Two things we desire and yet struggle to obtain.

God is not only the source of love, He is love. In the federal seat of Melbourne, many people from different church denominations work selflessly to demonstrate God's love, yet I would imagine that God's presence would not be acknowledged by too many people. I pray that through people's authenticity God might be seen as the source of love & happiness.

The dog and the politician

I have the dubious honour of living in what is, for another couple of days anyway, Australia's most marginal seat. McEwen is held by the Liberals by a mere 27 votes. Hence, I am being deluged with electoral mail. Liberal polling must show that Labor is going to win the seat because today, for the third time in four days I had mail from the Libs. Not just one letter, but two! Do they think the more mail they send, the more likely I will be to vote for them? Obviously. But they might be wrong. It might encourage me to vote against them. What a waste of money!

After clearing out my P.O. box I wandered around the corner and saw a man sitting down eating his Subway roll. His mutt was sitting loyally at his feet, never taking its eyes off the roll, hoping no doubt to be fed. When its owner ignored it, it inched further forward. When its owner still chose to ignore it, it barked.

My lessons/challenges today - 1) Just as it isn't wrong for the Liberal party to try and solicit my vote, it isn't wrong for me to spend money on myself. But at what point does it become obscene? Is my spending ethical at the moment?

2) Sometimes there is need right in front of us that we just don't see. Sometimes the need inches closer to us and other times it actually barks at us, and still we ignore it. What needs I am not noticing right now or choosing to ignore?

God, help me to use my resources better and not ignore the need that is right in front of me.

Not quite right

A few years ago there was an interesting programme on ABC TV called 'Altered Statesmen'. It looked at former political leaders who, whilst leading their countries, were battling medical issues that the general public, by and large, were not aware of.

For instance, John F Kennedy and possibly also Sir Winston Churchill, were using amphetamines (speed) while they were president/prime minister of their respective countries. In fact, Kennedy was on Speed during the Cuban missile crisis. It's amazing really, given the mental fragility of some of our world leaders, that we haven't seen a major nuclear conflict in the world. Maybe God has exercised a little more control than people have given him credit for.

On the other hand, Biblical prophecy would seem to suggest that some time in the future something terrible will happen either with nuclear weapons or maybe with the emerging nanotechnology.

On a brighter note, the programme suggested that England may not have won the war had Churchill not been Prime Minister. Churchill experienced times of great highs followed by periods of melancholy. But his condition may have contributed to him being able to inspire his nation during its darkest days of 1940. A person not suffering Churchill's condition may not have been able to see victory through the gloom of that period.

I am encouraged by that. The fact that we aren't perfect doesn't consign us to the scrap heap. Sometimes our flaws can even be our strength.

When I look at our church I recognise that we are all flawed. Sometimes, I have lacked grace in my relationships with people who have been battling their flaws that have been both known and unknown to me. We are all flawed and yet God can use our flaws to achieve things through us that otherwise might be impossible to achieve. Flawed people ministering to a flawed world.

Let's not allow our flaws deter us from being involved in mission and ministry. God can, and will use us in ways we could probably not imagine.

Stepping out of the shadows

"After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body." John 19:38

There comes a time in a believer's life when we can longer be a secret believer, or choose not to be a secret believer. Joseph of Arimathea had been a closet disciple but at the death of Jesus he chose to put it all on the line. He would have had to have known that to petition Pilate for Jesus' body would make him not only known to the Jews as a believer, but hated and vilified too.

I don't know any more about him but I would suspect that his life became more difficult after that. Yet, I also suspect that a weight lifted from his shoulders when he took the decision to step out of the shadows and own up to being a follower of Jesus the Christ.

The other thing I find interesting here is that all of the disciples except John have disappeared off the scene. Peter had been around until his famous three strikes experience. The disciples, probably with a mixture of emotions such as fear, confusion, depression, have deserted their Lord.

But not Joseph. He has chosen this time to make a statement. Why? I don't know, but I'm sure that God's chest would have pumped out a bit at this show of love and support.

There are times and will be times when I will need to step out of the shadows and put my faith on the line and risk being ostracised by 'the jewish leaders' in my life.

God, I pray that I won't be found wanting when I need to 'stand under the ball with a pack closing in on me from behind'. Help me to stand and not drop my head.

I'll stop the boats

"This is God's Message: Attend to matters of justice. Set things right between people. Rescue victims from their exploiters. Don't take advantage of the homeless, the orphans, the widows. Stop the murdering!" Jeremiah 22:2-3

I'm trying to ignore the election campaign even though I want to be informed enough to vote correctly. But the last sentence of the above scripture quote immediately brought into my mind Mr Abbott's catchcry "I'll stop the boats!"

God told Jeremiah to go to the royal palace and give his message to the king of Judah, his officials and all who go in out of the palace gates. This is what God wanted to tell the people in power, those who ran the country. These things were important to God and obviously weren't being addressed or, more likely, were being deliberately flouted by those in power.

There was nothing in God's message about creating a new chariot route between two outer suburban towns at the cost of several million Shekels. Nothing about cutting debt. No comment at all about the economy.

Today, in fact, when it comes to asylum seekers we could argue that both parties are attempting to take political advantage of the situation rather than vowing to "rescue victims from the exploiters".

When I look at my priorites, how far off the mark are they when compared to God's priorities? Even at church, how far away from God's priorities have we moved?

God, help me to understand and feel your desires when I make decisions in my life.

Knock Knock...

I made a bad mistake this morning. At about 3am as it was pouring with rain and the roof and all the windows were rattling, I decided to check on the 2 cats shut in the laundry in case they had taken fright with the weather. One was awake but fine and the other was still fast asleep. Oh well, maybe on this occasion they could spend the rest of the right sleeping in the lounge or maybe on the end of the bed. No such luck. Awake and refreshed from their sleep they decided to fight, often jumping all over the bed. So much for the rest of my sleep. So, in desperation I got them out of the bedroom and shut the door. And then they meowed at the door.

They had 90% of the house to themselves yet they wanted to be in the other 10%. There are probably a number of thoughts that come to mind about this situation. One is that they are like kids when the one toy that another child has is the one they want. But the one that came to mind for me at 3am (bit sad isn't it?) is that we quite often confine God to a percentage of our lives. Some people leave God outside completely. Some people give God about the size of my laundry and shut him out of the other 95%. Some are good and allow God into 90% of their life but still 10% is off limits. Who allows God 100% access?

One of the more famous verses in the Bible, if I can put it that way, is Revelation 3:20 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Fortunately God knocks, not meows!). I don't know why but I have always associated that verse with non-Christians but it is part of the letter to the Church in Laodicea, the infamous neither hot nor cold but lukewarm, church that makes God want to vomit. It is directed at believers. Interesting. What percentage of my life is sealed off with a locked door on which God is knocking?

Intentional and reckless

"In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal." John 12:25

The incident was assessed as reckless conduct (two points), medium impact (two points) and high contact (two points). This is a total of six activation points, resulting in a classification of a level three offence, drawing 225 demerit points and a two-match sanction. He has an existing bad record of two matches suspended within the last three years, which increases the penalty by 20 per cent to 270 demerit points. An early plea reduces the sanction by 25 per cent to 202.50 points and a two-game sanction.

So, a couple of weeks ago, the AFL match review panel found Campbell Brown guilty of being reckless. Had they also considered it to be intentional as well he would have received a longer suspension. Would the Bible be one of the few places where we are told to go out and be reckless; where we are actually rewarded for having a history of being intentionally reckless? Be reckless in your love.

I am a careful person. I am a bean counter after all. A brown cardigan, conservative type. It isn't natural for me to be reckless - to be a hoon with my love! The more you think about it the more fun it could be. Forget being careful with your life, be reckless. Be careless with love, not heeding the consequences.

It's only when we let go of everything, when we release that iron grip and start being reckless with what God has given us that we being to understand the power of a surrendered life.

"Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over." V24

God, help me not to be so careful!

In spite of the evidence...

"That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him. But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus." John 11:45

Jesus had just brought Lazarus back to life after 4 days and there were lots of witnesses to the event. Therefore, it's not surprising that it was a turnaround event for many of the Jews who saw it. None of them would have ever seen someone brought back to life, let alone one who had been dead for 4 days. But, amazingly, there were some who appeared to be totally unmoved by this extraordinary event. Their response was to dob on Jesus to the Pharisees.

Reality is that there are some people who will never, ever, believe in God no matter what evidence is presented in front of them. The issue with the Pharisees was that they feared they would lose their power and influence if Jesus were allowed to continue on with his God signs. And maybe those who told on Jesus feared losing the acceptance of the Pharisees.

There are many and varied reasons why people choose not to accept God. Importantly though, many of the Jews did come to faith as a result of what they saw. In our lives many people we know well will not ever choose to accept God. But some will.

In my life, I can't allow myself to become disillusioned when people refuse to accept that God exists. If I am faithful God will use me to influence people.

Help me God to remain faithful, especially when there isn't alot of encouraging evidence around.

The Christian or the Atheist?

On 11th November 1975 I was sitting in a classroom at Reservoir High School (now Reservoir Secondary College), opposite the library, studying French or suffering French more like. It was announced that Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, had dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's Labor government. That, of course, led to Mr Whitlam's famous quote on the steps of Parliament house ``Well may we say `God save the Queen' . . . because nothing will save the Governor-General!''. Another 14 year old would have been sitting in a class somewhere that day too. Her name was Julia Gillard, about 7 months my junior. Prime Minister Gillard now. Makes me feel old.

Julia Gillard is an atheist and Tony Abbott is a Christian. For whom should we vote?!
I quoted one of my favourite authors last week, Chuch Colson, and he wrote this about voting:

"Thinking that electing Christians to high public office answers all of our problems ignores a reality that Luther knew: In every society, "the wicked always outnumber the good." It's a sinful world. Therefore, government's prime job is to restrain sin and to preserve order. That is its ordained role from God. Our leaders, therefore, have to be those who are best-suited for carrying out these tasks, the most confident and responsible. Or, as Luther is supposed to have said, it is better to be "ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian."

Does this mean that we shouldn't encourage our fellow believers to seek elective office and support them once they do? Of course not. Christians are called to apply biblical truth to all areas of life, including politics and government. Nor does it mean that a candidate's beliefs are irrelevant. A candidate's beliefs shed light on his values, priorities, and character -- all of which matter when it comes to governance. A believer should be a force for virtue, and having one in office is a witness, of course. But this doesn't change the fact that the first requirement is competence. And some non-Christians may be better prepared to carry out government's biblical mandate than some Christians, no matter how often the latter attend church."　

As much as I get frustrated with election campaigns and threaten to vote for 'Mickey Mouse' as a protest, we live in the most wonderful country with a tremendous privilege called democracy.

I praise God for the freedom to be able to vote. Now I just have to make the correct decision on the day.

(p.s. Paul, I have no idea what song would fit this post!)

Courage

Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus earlier and was both a ruler and a Pharisee, spoke up. "Does our Law decide about a man's guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he is doing?" John 7:50-51

Nicodemus was a brave man. The Pharisees and the High Priests had a lot power. Earlier in the chapter it is mentioned that people in the crowd were talking in guarded whispers because of the intimidating Jewish leaders. Yet Nicodemus was prepared to speak up about something he felt was wrong. He had a lot to lose yet wasn't intimidated by the rest of the Pharisees.

It takes a lot of courage to stand up for something we believe in or for someone we feel has been wronged. In the process we risk being vilified ourselves or ostracised. It can come at a great cost. Yet it is what Christians are supposed to do. It's about justice and fairness.

Help me God to have the courage to stand up and be counted when I need to.

Risking ourselves with Jesus

They waffled: "why don't your give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of what's going on? When we see what's up we'll commit ourselves. Show us what you can do." John 6:30

The crowd had seen a miracle - Jesus feeding 5000 people, and were aware of another. Jesus had gotten back across the sea without being in the only boat there. Yet they were still asking Jesus to " show us what you can do". It seems to be a common problem, even for believers, that we keep asking Jesus to show us even though he has done so many times over.

Jesus then went on and gave them more than a clue about who he was yet at the end of it all we read that even a lot of his disciples left, not wanting to risk themselves with this Jesus.

Even being the Messiah and performing miracles didn't prevent Jesus from being rejected and rejected by his so called disciples at that.

Jesus said to the twelve "Do you also want to leave?" What Jesus stands for is sometimes not what we want him to stand for. In spite of the overwhelming evidence that he presents for who he is, it often doesn't fit with what we are looking for in 'our' God.

So, what is my response when it comes to risking myself with Jesus? When others leave and Jesus says to me "Do you also want to leave?" How emphatic is my response?

May I be found to be utterly loyal Lord.

Do we know when we are sick?

"One man had been an invalid there for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him...he said "Do you want to get well?" John 5:5-6

What a soul wrenching place Bethesda must have been. Hundreds of people, all sick, blind, crippled and paralysed. The only hope they seemed to have was to get into the pool when it stirred in the hope of receiving healing.

Here is our unnamed man who has been there for 38 years waiting and hoping to be healed but never able to get to pool before someone else does. What a miserable, frustrating and painful existence.

A short time later we see Jesus being grilled by the religious leaders about healing our friend on the Sabbath and Jesus is urgently telling them about their need to accept him because there are eternal consequences.

The physically sick man knew his need was healing and had waited 38 years at the place where he thought healing could be found. The religious leaders, as spiritually sick as the other man was physically ill, did not acknowledge their need. In fact they were hostile to any suggestion that they needed healing.

I have been a Christian since I was 17 years old and like the religious leaders I often won't acknowledge that I have a spiritual sickness that can only be dealt with by God. There is something about Christians and pride that sometimes sees us take a moral high ground and refuse to acknowledge our need for healing.

When shall I come unto the healing waters?
Lifting my heart, I cry to thee my prayer.
Spirit of peace, my Comforter and healer,
In whom my springs are found, let my soul meet thee there.

Wash from my hands the dust of earthly striving;
Take from my mind the stress of secret fear;
Cleanse thou the wounds from all but thee far hidden.
And when the waters flow let my healing appear.

Light, life and love are in that healing fountain,
All I require to cleanse me and restore;
Flow through my soul, redeem its desert places,
And make a garden there for the Lord I adore.

From a hill I know,
Healing waters flow;
O rise, Immanuel's tide,
And my soul overflow!

Finding out about the real person

The election campaign drones on and the chances are that at the end of the campaign we will be none the wiser about who Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott really are. We will be fed images that their respective media advisors want us to see and they will be countered with dirt from the other side.

One of the most vilified world politicians of recent times was George W. Bush. What was he really like? A few years ago I read the following article.

Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and former aide to President Nixon during the Watergate years, tells the story of the Bush's involvement in the Angel Tree program last Christmas. About 100,000 volunteers in America delivered gifts to more than 525,000- children of prison inmates.

Among those 100,000 volunteers were President and Mrs Bush. 40 or so members of the media accompanied the President and spent 10 minutes taking photos and notes before leaving. Charles Colson describes what happened next:

"I remember from my days with President Nixon what photo opportunities are: Get the picture and leave. So I thought the Bushes would shortly depart, but they didn’t. They stayed long after the cameras were gone to greet every child, to have their picture taken with them, their mothers, and their grandmothers, to talk with them, and to ask questions. Though the press didn’t report it, I noticed that both the president and Mrs. Bush talked to the Hispanic children in Spanish.

Just before the president left, I introduced him to Al Lawrence, a member of our staff. I told the president that I had met Al more than twenty years ago in a prison. Jesus had got hold of Al’s life, and he’s been working for us ever since. Then I told the president that Al’s son was now a freshman at Yale. At that point the president stopped, exclaimed, "We’re both Yale parents," and threw his arms around Al Lawrence—an African-American ex-offender being embraced by the president of the United States in a church basement. The ground is indeed level at the foot of the cross."

So, what was/is George W Bush really like? Probably quite different to man we have read and heard about in the media.

Every now and then I read the story again as it challenges me about how I formulate opinions of people. It's hard with with famous people as it is highly unlikely that I will ever have the opportunity of getting to know them one on one. But with the people I work with or attend church with I do have a choice. I can choose to believe the gossip that others 'kindly' pass on to me. Or, I can take the time to find out what the person is really like by taking the time to get to know them.

Gossip is a cancer but most of us still allow our opinions to be coloured by it and often then pass it on. I must do more to ensure that I am not a 'carrier' who passes on the virus that is gossip.

Grumpy days

I had a grumpy day on Tuesday. There was no apparent reason for it. I was just grumpy. I guess most of us have those days occasionally. I even have them on days when there isn't band practice!

When I am grumpy I tend to struggle with my devotions. When I just want to get away from everything and everyone I'm not really interested in reading Isaiah or any other part of scripture that addresses my behaviour.

On Wednesday I trotted off to have my haircut. My barber does the most wonderful scalp massages. The massage on its own is worth the cost of the haircut. And as Vicenzo massaged my head so the tension started to drain away.

What about a spiritual massage? I am doing reasonably well with my Bible reading at present but sometimes what I need is a deep internal spiritual massage. Something to break the tension that exists inwardly. I am not good at allocating time to sit and allow God to minister. I don't even have a wife & kids yet I still find it hard to find that space. But everytime I visit Vicenzo I am reminded that I need to find again the healing massage of God's Spirit in my life if I am to function properly.

God's saving power

" Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?" Isaiah 53:1

God seems to specialise in achieving outcomes through ways we just don't expect. The Bible is full of examples that we are now familiar with but are actually quite outrageous when we stop and think about them. This chapter of Isaiah is a beauty!

Surely God has not done anything else quite like the Jesus story. What an extraordinary way to bring salvation. No one would have expected God to bring reconciliation by crushing his own son with pain (vs 10).

Today in the church we still try to put God in a box. We think we understand him. But he still does things that astound us. Maybe we should expect the unexpected. Maybe we should expect him to do things differently to our expectations and through different people to whom we would choose.

Maybe I still expect God to work in defined parameters in my life too. Maybe the expression of God's saving power in my life should look quite different to how I expect it to look.

God, forgive me for trying to put you in a box, for trying to make you conform to my small mind's understanding of your ways. Open my eyes to be surprised at what you are doing through your people.

You are never too old

"They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green." Psalm 92:14 (NIV)

I can never read these words without remembering Dick Collett. 'Uncle' Dick testified many times, both publicy and to me personally about how thrilled he was that, even though he was old, God was still going to work through him.

Our world today is geared toward a retirement of lounging around, travelling, playing golf etc. It's about accumulating wealth in order to do nothing much in retirement or to spend it on trips and leisure. It's a philosophy that is at odds with Christianity. It's not that God doesn't want us to play golf or have an overseas trip, it's more that he has plans to work through us right up to the time we take our last breath. There isn't this mythical age where all of a sudden our work for God ends just because our work for an income does.

For 12 years I have worked for the same mob and at no point in time has my employment been really secure. Just at this point it is less secure than normal! At almost 50 years of age and with no qualifications, the world is likely to say "you are too old mate". But God says that I will still bear fruit, even at 50 with no qualifications!

Age is of no consequence to God. God still has important work for me to do and if I keep my focus on him he will ensure that I still produce good fruit.

A bit more awe please

"So to whom will you compare me, the incomparable? Can you picture me without reducing me?" Isaiah 46:5. In the next chapter of Isaiah God says "I have a lot more to tell you, things you never knew existed."

It's such a temptation to shrink God to a size I can manage and fathom. I want to be able to understand God, to know which direction he will move next so that I can have some level of control over my life and to ensure I am not caught out underprepared.

Uncertainty about the future is something that bothers many of us. I think the technical term is 'worry'! But consider this - if God is incomparable; if to picture God is to reduce him; and if God has more to show and tell - things I never knew existed; Then why am I not continually excited by the God who is so huge and so pro me?

A little less worry and a lot more excitement and anticipation is probably the order of the day.

Am I a danger to society?

"It is God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of fools who think you're a danger to society." 1 Peter 2:15

In this general election campaign which candidate is considered to be more of a danger to society? The Christian one of course! Tony Abbott's Catholicism is considered to be a negative, at least by those in the media.

To a degree we Christians have brought some of it on ourselves. We lack compassion in areas where there is a difference of moral values such as in same sex relationships and abortion. And now, given the advances in technology, we have to deal with fallout from the American Evangelicals too.

Nevertheless, I do get frustrated at the negative press that Christians receive. After all, stack up the church/para church social ministries contribution to society against the atheist one and see which has done more.

It is going to be a continual challenge for the church in these times to get the message of God's love out there. The media is highly unlikely to do it. As always, it will be up to individuals to change the world. And from a Christian perspective, individuals empowered by God. Continue to do good, "exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government." (vs 16-17).

Help me God.

No one is forgotten

"Not one is missing, not on forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you...."
1 Peter 1:1-2

Peter was writing to exiles as he called them, Christians in Northern Asia Minor. The first thing he tells them is that they are not forgotten, not one of them. God has his eye on each and every one of them no matter where they are, no matter how remote.

It must be very easy at times for those who live in countries hostile to Christianity or those who live in remote regions to wonder whether God remembers them and is aware of their situation. Yet here, we are reminded that God remembers them all.

In the cities we often hold similar fears. Amongst the vast numbers of faceless people, does God remember me? Can he see me amongst the vast crowd? Can he hear me above the cacophony of noise? Yes he can! Not only that but he knows me intimately.

The thoughts for this blog today are 5 years old (my journal this morning didn't quite measure up!). At the time I wrote this my father was very ill and passed away about 6 weeks later. In the challenging times of life, it's encouraging to know that God is incredibly close and loves us all passionately. No one is forgotten.

God, the reminder that you are watching me at all times isn't always a pleasant thought because I don't measure up to your holiness. But the promise of your love and protection gives such peace. Thank You.