e-holiness

good news but keep praying

the news channels from around the world yesterday was filled with the state of the current economic situation in the united states which is having a knock on effect on financial markets around the world, this could affect your pension and endowment funds and will perhaps make it harder for you to gain credit from your bank...

this is something we need to continue to pray into, however the good news that happened yesterday was the power sharing agreement that was signed in zimbabwe, now this is something that we need to pray into, the people of that country have been living in a dire financial situation for many years and whilst the news out of america will make a difference to us here in our safe western world where we have the opportunity to save for tomorrow (and i am not saying we all can due to our employment status etc but we have the safety nets in place which allow most of us to live with a roof over our heads and place food on the table) zimbabweans are now looking to a more secure future with a balanced government, we need to thank God that there has been an agreement reached but also pray for unity in a country so divided.

finding God

yesterday the news was full of the cern collider experiment which was switched on for the first time, for those of you who missed the news and the build up which has been covered for the last few years scientists have created a 17 kilometre tunnel where they will eventually crash together atomic particles in the hope of creating the event that took place just after the 'big bang' millions or billions of years ago.

what they are looking for, as with so many unanswered questions, is the missing link or what some scientist are calling the 'God particle', that element which they can't find or is missing from their scientific knowledge or experiments, and it's also known to be the 'let there be light' moment! this story has been covered well on the bbc but here is another take on that same experiment still on the bbc web page, the use of words like cathedral is also interesting and i hope you enjoy the read.

this whole news story, the search for the unknown, the unseen, the missing link and mankind's attempt to find God reminds me so much of the story of the tower of babel found in genesis 11. however as much time and effort we make to try to understand God He is so much bigger, mightier, 'other' than us that we cannot capture Him or even have the words to explain or comprehend Him.....this is captured so well in the book of job 38 and 39, who is man that we can try to understand our God, were we there are the beginning of creation.....whatever man seeks to prove God is beyond all understanding, all He asks of us is to have a child like faith and He will reveal Himself and His plans for our lives to us, all we have to do is ask Him.

too much stuff not enough time!

i have started this post a couple of times already, monday and tuesday, however time seemed to run away with me and i never managed to get further than the first couple of lines.

since returning from south africa last week we have been so busy, i mean my life is quiet hectic at the best of times but over the weekend we left our family home (which we have lived in since we got married 20 years ago) and moved down to a friends house, well should i say we moved into a room at a friends home, where we will be staying for the next four weeks before the big move to south africa in october.

when i returned from south africa i was somewhat shocked at the sight of my house, maz had spent the two and half weeks whilst i was away clearing up, sorting through and where necessary throwing out so much of our stuff that i was surprised to see so much still left in our lounge as i came through the door....i have never considered myself as a hoarder, ok i do keep hold of motor racing programmes and magazines from the 1970's and the odd football programme, but where did all this clutter come from?

i guess i am as much part of our materialist society as the next man but as we seek to 'downsize' for our long term move to africa where we will be living almost on top of people who struggle to get through each day, i am trying to declutter my whole life, not only the things i have but also the time that i put into what would be considered normal to our western eyes.

i am seeking God as to what he wants me to take and the more i think about it the more i come to the conclusion that all He wants me to take is myself and His love and compassion that He has placed in my heart for these poor and needy people......in three of the gospels Jesus said "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"

i hope that i haven't taken that out of context but it feels like i have the whole world and it's riches at my hand but i need only to ensure that Jesus has my soul as that is all i need....to have Him in my life not the riches and material things that i have unknowingly surrounded myself with over these last 20 years.

please don't get me wrong i will be taking some clothes and books and maybe if you come and visit us we will have some of the trappings of this life but all i know is that Jesus wants me, not my stuff, dreams, ideas etc, and when He has stripped all that away then He will use me in a mighty way to further His kingdom here on earth.....

.....

commiting our plans

it's been a long time since i posted on e-holiness, what with the 18 day trip to south africa and our imminent move from our family home, an address we have lived at for over 20 years, there has been so much to do with so little time, however as we make the first steps towards our final move to south africa in october i am encouraged by the scripture found in proverbs 16 v 3 which says 'commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed'....in all that we are doing, what with the house move, the purchase of the land which will become 'the village of hope', our move to south africa, it is our desire to commit all our actions, whether the big or the small to God, sometimes this can be a hard thing to do, but over the years we have found that God is always faithful and His ways are trustworthy.

i hope that i will be able to post a few thoughts about the recent trip to south africa next week but for now please pray for us as we place our next steps into the Lords hands......

body armor

as you will be more than aware i am off to south africa today with a team of builders from our church in aylesbury, i have been so looking forward to this 18 day trip which will enable us to not only convert some of the buildings on the farm in grabouw into accommodation areas for volunteers and the children we wish to provide homes to, but will also be a chance for us to see God at move in the communities where thembalitsha are already working.

the town of grabouw has one of the highest rates of AIDS and new TB infections in the world and we are really expectant for God to show his mighty hand as we seek to love, serve and pray for those not only affected by these diseases but also hit by the high rates of poverty and housing need.

i was struck by a news report on the bbc web site, which tells of a range of fashion items that have been designed for the south african market, what's different about these clothes you may ask, well these are bullet proof versions to protect people from gun shots and stabbings..see story here.

south africa has one of the highest rates of crime in the world and the areas where we are working will be full of desperate people who will literally kill for food and drugs, however, and i don't say this flippantly, we go with God's full protection, our armour, as seen in ephesians 6 10-18, is not designed to protect us against the gun or flesh but will protect us from the unseen evil powers that all Christians are fighting against...for some of you this will see pie in the sky stuff, but as we go to south africa today we are all putting on God's armour which will not only protect us from but wage war against the schemes which are set to destroy this world (such as the gun crime caused by injustice and man's lack of love for his fellow man as seen in south africa) and claim the spiritual lives of our young people and vulnerable families.

i will try to keep e-holiness updated whilst i am away but if you hear no news then don't worry, it's only because we are so busy with the work that God has set before us, to care for the widows and orphans, seeking justice and showing compassion to all men.

inspiration

since hearing shane claiborne at greenbelt a few years ago i have loved his 'simple way', for those who haven't heard or seen shane then please follow this link to this youtube sermon that is well worth a listen....man if you aren't touched by the video clip towards the end of the sermon then i don't know what will move us to take Jesus into the world!

...shane is part of a community in philadelphia and has written an amazing book called irresistible revolution which is a must read.....

i know for some this will be old news, books etc, but we must continue to remember that we are called out to help those less fortunate than us, so have a listen and get inspired by this guy.

china thoughts

i don't often get chance to listen to bbc radio 4's thought for today but this morning as i was driving i heard catherine pepinster's thoughts on the Olympics which was very good, have read here as she makes the comparison of pauls call for us to run the race and also eric liddells call to china after his athletic career.

however as we celebrate all the human sporting endeavour let us also remember those christians being persecuted in china and other countries in the world for their faith in Jesus.

rhythm and rule

over the last few years i have been looking into the 'monastic' way of life, not shut away in a monastery with a load of other blokes but as a way of life that fits in/around/compliments my life in 'the world'...this has taken me to look at the books of david adam and the northumberland community, also other expressions of simplistic living within a wider community, but as we set out on our journey in south africa we have a real chance of creating a community, a rule, of believers that are looking to God and to each other at certain times of the day, knowing that others are doing the same.

this community or rule will be flexible and look to embrace everyone who lives, whether full time, like myself and maz, the careworkers and the children we are caring for, or part time, other workers who come up to work day by day or volunteers who will make themselves available for a period of time whether part or full time....i would love for the prayers, scriptures and times to fit with the community that we are serving:  prayers for those with AIDS and people who live in dire poverty, scriptures that speak of hope and God's love for all men especially the widows and orphans and times that suit our lives, maybe not to get the children up for 6am prayers, but then again maybe they will be the only ones awake then!

this rhythm and rule doesn't need to be too ridged and will take sometime to develop, but i would love for us to work as a community that are focused on God and each other without the need to become to religious about the whole thing.

i have found a great web site, called the order of mission, or TOM for short, this site also embraces some of the mike breen teachings that we loved at new wine all those years ago....this is something that we could join, but if anyone else has any ideas or sites/communities that could share ideas then i would love to hear from you.

some wedding photos...

some people have been asking to see the photos i took at chris' wedding over the weekend, so i thought that the easiest thing to do would be to drop a link into e-holinesss to my flickr account, so please visit this link to see some of the photos. lovely weather, amazing food and a good time had by all.

prayer for china

well we had a wonderful weekend at the marriage of my eldest son, more of which i should imagine will follow over the next few posts, however today i wanted to encourage you to visit the 808 china blessing web site. i met a guy at the weekend who does a lot of christian sports outreach and he told me of this prayer site which is looking to engage christians from all round the world to pray for china during the time that the Olympics are on and with less than a week till they start we need to get involved today.