Belfast Child

I am in Northern Ireland  with the family we are having a great time and it has been sunny everyday which is fantastic. We have been doing a little mini conference called "Stumbling Journey" which went really well, I have also had a couple of other talks which has been great. 6 talks in about 36 hours.

We now have 2 days of relaxing and then Tracy and the boys fly home and I stay on for a few meetings with the guys from www.24-7prayer ireland.com which I help over see. I spoke at a 24- 7 prayer gathering in Lurgan on Saturday night and there were over 120 people there which is fantastic. Some great stories and wonderful stuff happening here, the guys are now moving down to Dublin for a month of prayer, the regional break up of the year of prayer is fantastic, with a celebration story telling event at the end of each month in what ever region they are in.


The theme for the year is "What if?"


I love Ireland, Ireland fills me with optimism and hope. As a nation I think we are very hospitable.

Please pray for Ireland

Daniel Robert Hall

I met Robb Hall in canada a couple of years ago, I can't say I knew him well, but I really loved meeting him and hearing some of his heart and experiencing the gentle manner with which he conducted himself.

I did have a real sense that here was a man, who along with his wife Kate, was called to pioneer, to walk a different trail, to follow a different way.

In fact I gave him a pair of vomit stained shoes that we had found on the streets of Ibiza, to encourage him to step out and go on a messy journey. After I did this I remember him laughing and saying to me "I saw those shoes and thought, please don't give me the shoes!!" but he wasn't reluctant in taking them.

Anyway not because of the shoes or anything like that but Robb and his wife kate decided to sell up and go on pilgrimage. I had a little note from him in May last year saying  "We left in february, feeling like adventure was in the wind." They chose to be blown by the wind.


Even his email spoke of new things, "newpilgrim@" I was impressed that a man would take his wife and 3 children and set off on pilgrimage like that, travelling and seeing where God would have them be.  They sold everything to follow the call of God on their lives. I saw Robb last year in Edinburgh and wished I had spent more time with him, I only really got a chance for a brief chat and to ask him if he could source me some more of his brothers coffee!!!!


Well on Tuesday Robb was working in Africa in Zambia when he had a construction accident and was killed. He leaves a wife and 3 children.


I was shocked and still am, but my heart really goes out to his family and friends who have been devastated by this news. 


Obviously they had sold everything to follow the call of God and his wife and children are now in Africa with the need to come back to canada and also have his body repatriated, please if you could help can you go to this page Daniel Robert Hall and make a donation.


Don't worry if you can't but please if you are the praying type can you pray for Robb's family at this time.


Daniel Robert Hall an inspiration and a challenge to us all, to live beyond ourselves and not be constrained by our culture. 


R.I.P

I want my neighbours ox

I had to drop my car of at the garage for a service this morning there was a beautiful brand new landrover discovery in the driveway as we pulled up. It got me thinking about a much under used word "covet".

Exodus 20: 17 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”

We don't use it much because we don't often covet our neighbours ox, yet I would say it is one of the major sins of our culture. Primarily because we are taught to covet from a young age. If coveting has a master, or a promoter, then that master is adverstising. We live in a society were we are taught not to be content.

When we read the words of Paul in Phillipians 4: 11 -12  "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want"


Advertising makes us discontent. Yet even advertising as the only Lord of Coveting would be too simplistic.


Coveting as Eugene Peterson so aptly put it; can also be "fantasising about a life other than the one you are already living"


Our own desires cause us to covet. I once read that the reason Mills and Boon novels were so popular amongst women was because it appealed to the fantasy side of there nature. It would help them imagine a life other than the one they were already living. In the late 90's internet use by men was all about the porn, whilst many young women went online in chat rooms pretending they were someone they were not!! Coveting happens with both sexes.


I have met men who have fantasised about their wife leaving them so they can start a new life with another woman. Or the man who works with a woman all day long and finds she talks to him more than his wife. He starts to covet that other woman, the sin has happened way before he eventually has an affair.


Anyway it's out there, coveting happens. I want the new white discovery tdi, I have bought into my culture, I have become discontent with what I have, forgotten about how much of a blessing my existing car is and I am off on a fantasy journey in my shiny new vehicle!!!!

Does this also happen in church? Do we covet others spirituality, their gifts, their service style, their congregation size????

Singleness

I can't really write about singleness with any authority, no more than I can write about being a woman.

Reasons to be single

1. You have had hurtful and abusive relationships and just can't face another one! This involves trust and letting your guard down you have done that so many times and it hasn't worked out, you have decided to remain single.

2.You don't want to be single you just can't find the right partner. This isn't being choosy this is just the way it is, especially if you are fishing in the christian pond.

You're fed up with people quoting trite little saying to help you "delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart" etc... Actually being single as a christian lady appears harder to me than being single as a christian man, there are definitely more females than men. Then you have to find a man with the Holy Hotness!! which is also difficult. At times like this would the church do well to revert back to polygamy? Obviously I jest, but at this point I can see why females decide to fish in the non-christian pond, especially if the body clock is ticking and you want to get on with producing babies.

3. You have chosen to be single, you feel that you can get by on your own, you're not hurt, you're not damaged you have just decided this is the way it is going to be. You don't fancy having babies, you have a fulfilled life and you enjoy your own company. You feel you can better fulfil your life purpose as a single person. Fair play.

The church and singleness

So much is offered for youth and couples, but not singles.
If you're single for too long people will inevitably question your sexuality!
Age doesn't help, in church, as in the rest of life, the older people get the more coupled up and family-fied they become. They then tend to spend time with similar people.
Singleness should not preclude you from any form of ministry, but church leadership teams to tend to look for couples!

I would also like to include this from Sheena "I would even say there's a stigma as a single woman, and the sense that a woman's life is in limbo and just treading water until her husband comes along. The most freeing experiences I've had in the community of Christ were the ones where my gifts and abilities were acknowledged and I was given the space to step up and use them freely." 


Singleness is not a curse if it's a choice, but I would imagine if it's not a choice singleness could at times equate to loneliness.

I know that there are intelligent vibrant, energetic, gifted people out there who are great fun to be with, who have depth and are really interesting. At times they are lonely, they don't want pity for their occasional bouts of loneliness, but those of us who aren't single do have to look out for them and remember this factor. 

None of this is meant in anyway to patronising. It's all about inclusivity, the community of Christ has to be inclusive.

Praying for a woman

OK I am totally out of my depth on this one!! Firstly because I am not a woman.

I once heard a story of a lady who placed a pair of mens jeans at the end of her bed and prayed that God would give her a man to fill them.

So my suggestion is for you guys is that you buy some ladies underwear and hang them at the end of your bed and ask God to give you a woman to fill them. Faith is being sure of what we hope for .....

Ok I have talked to a few women in my time, I 'm even married to one.

Men if your praying for a woman here's a few tips, ladies if I am getting this wrong forgive me because I am a man.

In all honesty most of my man post applies to women with some obvious exceptions.

A few extras would be:

Lets start with a few externals:

Make up is good although don't overdo it the worst thing that can happen is that you wear to much make up get married then scrape it all off and shock your new partner.

Tanning is good, but pale skin is also beautiful, what is worse is fake tan, people can spot it a mile off no one wants an orange woman, unless you live in a particularly bigoted part of East Belfast. Which leads me to a small aside, there are a lot of women with fake tans in Ireland!

Don't obsess about your wedding day, it's about the rest of your life not the day. It amazes me that a couple about to embark on the journey of spending the rest of their lives together can spend their engagement obsessing about invites, cakes and photographers. Simplicity can be beautiful.


Don't be a daddies girl, you give your man the spectre of your father hanging over the relationship and he will never quite measure up. Don't go looking for a dad to give you cuddles and tell you everything is going to be ok. Get that from God not some unsuspecting 20 something male!


I would like to add some more tips but I think I need some help! Leave a comment and i'll add it if it's helpful.


I feel that I am wading around in the shallows here, there is a whole load of stuff that society and culture has put on to women that disturbs me. The church hasn't been overly helpful over the years either but I would refuse to let the church take all the blame. Media and advertising have also done a lot of damage. So I don't want to go into some feminist discourse.

Just think it would be helpful to know what makes a healthy well balanced woman?

I wil post suggestions below

1. I heard a great talk from Mike Pilavachi last week. He said don't make false idols. Don't make an idol from having to have a partner and waste your life away waiting to get married to be happy. Use your life now. Also if you are single, don't make privacy an idol. The bible doesn't talk about privacy once, it says a lot about being hospitable though. (great maybe I should do a post on singleness?)

Praying for a man

Thinking about men today

I do wonder if the longer a woman goes without a man the choosier she becomes, she has established a single adult life and he has to fit in with her, the other view could be that the longer a woman goes without a man she becomes more desperate. Single men can also be far too detailed in their partner choice. Single men can often be preoccupied with their careers, ministries, and money-making-rubbish. Single men are often not looking for a wife but a mother and someone they can have sex with.

Basically if you are a lady praying for a partner here’s my guidelines for what you should be looking for!! or what you as a man should be measuring up to become.

What kind of man should I be praying for? What kind of man should I be?

Obviously I am going to use generalisations and be quite self referenced but here goes.

If you are thinking of getting married, first think about these three things:

1. Don’t think getting married will solve your lust problems, if you masturbated before you got married you will masturbate after you get married. Get accountable, sort your computer out ,clean your act up and walk the journey through with trusted friends.

2. Remember your vows as you travel through life you will see other women that you fancy you will even remember past flames and wonder if they could have been the one. But remember this; you made vows, you promised, and the woman you are with is meant to be the one you are with for life. Keep your promises, remain faithful. Lay down your life for your wife.

3. It’s never to late to call it off if you’re engaged and you are worried that it might not be working out, if you need help and have to have counseling before you get married, don’t do it! Don’t let friends convince you its all going to be ok, if you think you are making a mistake get wise counsel but in the end if you feel its not going to work don’t go with the flow!!! End it. A heart that hurts is a heart that beats, short term pain is better than long term pain. 

Okay if you've got that, here's a few tips:

Work on your appearance - women do, the least we could do is repay the compliment. Self control, self discipline, clean clothes and deodorant go a long way. Don’t let your woman dress you, you are not a Man Doll.

Sensitive yet strong, is that possible? I think so. We need to be willing to express our feelings and even on occasion cry, but then not too teary. Some men just use tears and sadness to win women over, it’s pathetic. I cried at my wedding I was overwhelmed by the beauty of my wife. Woman in general like to listen but we shouldn’t abuse this wonderful skill by always talking about our problems and issues to win the sympathy vote. Strong for me means being able to get a grip, hold it together, take control but also have the ability to release control allow someone else to hold it together and strong enough to cope with someone else being in charge.

Passionate: Love God with a passion, love your children with a passion, be passionate about football (or whatever it is that floats your boat) oh! And love your woman with passion, she should occasionally have to tell you to calm down and take your brain out of your willy.

Romantic: Most women tend to like perfume, flowers, lingerie, jewellery and nice food. You don’t need lots of money to make this happen you just need imagination. (Although I have found it is better to buy underwear than trying to make it yourself)  I have also found that its good to clean the house, write a poem or fix the dripping tap, romance comes in many forms but it needs to be included and worked at!

Decisive: make a decision, any decision just be decisive it’s okay to be wrong, but please be decisive.

Say sorry, don’t just say it because you think that is what people want to hear, live life with the knowledge that you won’t always be right and you will make wrong decisions, be humble enough to admit this and please verbalize your apology. Instead of just using the word “sorry” ask for forgiveness!

Learn to cook, and don’t expect to be thanked when you occasionally do it. Really this is about pulling your weight domestically, not being good at something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.

Listen this is very helpful.

Don’t retreat into a cave Caves are dark lonely places you weren’t built to live that way.

Don’t take ladies for granted, there are other men out there!

Be jealous but not possessive, control freaks are scary.

Dance with your woman you don't need rhythm it's good to hold each other and work up a sweat together in public.

Laugh a lot and don’t take yourself too seriously.

Be spontaneous adventure is good.

Be serious when you need to be and don’t try to get out of every emotional or sensitive situation by cracking a joke.

Never hit a woman, never swear at a woman, hitting is worse than swearing, you will swear at your woman, even if it’s just in your head!

Never tell your lady she needs to lose weight unless you feel she is in danger of having a heart condition or developing diabetes!

Don’t believe all they tell you in marriage prep, you should not let the sun go down on your anger is true but sometimes it is just better to huff and puff role over and go to sleep and talk about it in the morning.

Finally don't read John Eldridges, Wild at Heart, it's utter nonsense.

Europe?

Just had a great couple of days in England planning for 24-7 prayers euro gathering in Frankfurt later this year.

It did make me think how disconnected Europe really is, how the church in the UK doesn't really appear to feel part of Europe. Of course this has something to do with history, xenophobia and too many people reading the daily mail but it is sad to see.

I have a number of negative views on Europe one is the word "unelected" others are central law making, etc

I believe that is ok to be euro sceptic when it comes to political structures and how europe is run.

It is not ok to be euro sceptic when it comes to engaging with and reaching out to the people of europe of which the UK is part. Even the question of the UK being part of europe is on one level irrelevant. Why is it for years we have sent people to Africa, India and other desperately needy countries but ignored europe. The fact is there is a huge mass of people living near each other who could do with hearing the good news about Jesus. I think that if we got groups of say 6 -12 people went for a bit of geographical relocation some missional focus linked with some language learning and maybe we could reach out to the darkest continent in the world.

Is our history holding us back on a subconscious level from truly engaging with the evangelisation of europe?

Maybe we should start a european missionary sending organisation, I am sure that many already exist, but maybe we could start a new one?

Too Americanised!!!!

When talking about our bibles recently, I had someone mention that "The Message" version was too Americanised.

Once again this was further evidence to me just how far the church, at times, can disappear up its own bottom.

Too americanised???? Only if you have ever read any other bible, are English, a snob or just used to throwing out pat phrases because thats what others say.

Listen to yourself!!!!!

If you have never read a bible and someone hands you a message version you get the chance to read a great piece of writing which articulates the story of Israel, life of Jesus and birth of the church incredibly well.

Most of the people I gave it to out on the streets were just glad to have something put in their hands that they could understand. In all our interactions we never had anyone say "oh sorry I can't take that it's too americanised!"

Too americanised? Once again Christians being nothing more than christians thinking about how it impacts christians! Whats the matter with the americanisation of culture, we love their movies, their TV series, their bands and then we get comments like that about their bibles!!!!

If you are American and reading this you have to know "I love you"

Why are there so many versions of the bible out there, is there money to made in the bible market?

Maybe we should all buy this bible, click on the link and go purchase one, its $22 bargain and not in the least bit too americanised!!!! :

The American Patriot's Bible: The Word of God and the Shaping of America

THE ONE BIBLE THAT SHOWS HOW 'A LIGHT FROM ABOVE' SHAPED OUR NATION. Never has a version of the Bible targeted the spiritual needs of those who love our country more than The American Patriot's Bible. This extremely unique Bible shows how the history of the United States connects the people and events of the Bible to our lives in a modern world. The story of the United States is wonderfully woven into the teachings of the Bible and includes a beautiful full-color family record section, memorable images from our nation's history and hundreds of enlightening articles which complement the New King James Version Bible text!!!!

Cultural relevance is a red herring

Does culture change the church or does church change the culture?

Or should we be adapting to culture and working out the best ways to be affective christians within the culture?

I am not always convinced it is the churches job to change the culture, we need to adapt, change and modify to really have an impact on it but do we need to change it. But then again "kingdom come" is a form of imperialism, maybe we do? What we definitley mustn't do is withdraw from the culture around us and create our own little culture.

I once heard Pete Greig say this of the church "We are not called to be culturally relevant but we are called to be culturally present"

Cultural relevance is a red herring. We do however need to be present in culture, light in darkness, salt in a saltless world!

Thats why the Christian worship band culture really gets under my skin, because it further highlights how far removed the church can be from the culture that surrounds us! Instead of being present in culture we absent ourselves from it and create our own one. I think part of this happens because it is easier. For a new artist the path of least resistance is to work in a ready made market who are crying out for the next song to give them goosebumps and make them feel good about their lifestyle choices. It's lazy, not very biblical and breeds a reclusive church culture.

A real artist would break into the culture not remove himself from it.

Light in light, salt in an already salty environment, it doesn't work for me.

Addicted to comfort

Steve left this as a comment yesterday, it deserves to be a real post. It's a quote from Graham Cray:

"Once upon a time there were people who lived in Scarcity
After many adventures, they met the Affluent Society
The two married and had lots of needs

When we live beyond scarcity, the wanting never ends
Affluenza is fatal – personally, spiritually and socially

We care how we feel, our happiness, our success, not what is true

The West identifies itself as Free – our core value

But in God’s image, Humans shrink when freedom prioritises our needs over others – Consumers rather than Citizens

As we consume, others drop deeper into Scarcity

Scripture after Scripture says Christian Growth comes through sacrifice and suffering in the cause of the Kingdom of God

Is our giving to Children in Need and Sport Relief really what Jesus meant when he said leave your stuff behind and follow me?

Can we learn to trust God for what our families genuinely need, while giving preference to those whose poverty breaks God’s heart?

My name is Steve and I am addicted to comfort and I need to be released in Jesus’s name for the sake of God’s Kingdom come....

Thank you for sharing Steve