Becoming Like Children

Matt 18:3
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven"



(old photo!)

Anyone who knows me knows how proud I am of my children.
Well I have to be honest and say I am more than just "proud"

We (my wife and I) have done and are doing our best to bring our children up to believe in Christ and to never be afraid of their beliefs. Well so far so good!! in the midst of all our struggles, problems and issues with our faith are my 2 angels! they have no fear , no issues and proclaim the Good news to all who listen, they may be only children but we could learn so much more from them

On Friday Night we went to A Christian Concert (LZ7 ) they had a ball!! but the best for me was yet to come.

On Saturday Morning there was a knock at the door and one of my Eldest child's friends came to the door my eldest immediately started telling them about the concert but also went on to tell them about the songs,that all the songs were about Jesus and how cool it was that she went to a concert all about Jesus!!

Me lying in bed thought WOW! how amazing is it that she can just come out and say it yet me a 36 year old man struggle to even mention it to my non Christian friends.
I am incredibly lucky to be working for a Christian Charity now but for years i have worked elsewhere...........I have I left a lasting impression of a Christian in their midst or something else, my guess would have to be something else.

But i know my eldest has left a lasting impression on not just the person from Saturday but from other friends too. she is so proud to be a Christian and has such faith in Jesus that it puts me to shame.
There is so much yet that I have to learn and I couldn't go much further than looking at home!!



Matt 18:3
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven"

Human Trafficking

John 10:10 (New International Version)

¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

(All links open a new Window!)
A Few months ago I attended an event in Manchester Called "The Stand". The event was put on by a Christian Charity called Hope for Justice.
The event was to raise the awareness of Human trafficking in the UK and to enable the Local church to actively combat this issue!!
Ever since that day both my wife and I have had a real heart about the issue and it is one which breaks both our Hearts, we have both written about it several times.

Unfortunately in the UK we are still not doing enough as a church or politically to combat human trafficking and i feel that it is very much swept under the carpet by some, but the issue is currently being debated in parliament. This is a step in the right direction but its just that a Step there is so much more that we as a church can do and should be doing. My admission today is that i am not doing enough! particularly for an issue which weighs heavy on my heart.

Please read the story below, there are many more stories very similar and worse.

Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con):
"So where are all those slaves, and whom does this affect? In the United Kingdom, the main victims are women and children. They are often tricked into coming to this country, usually with a promise of some sort of job. When they arrive here, they are often locked up and forced to have sex with up to 30 men a day. I shall give the House an example. I met a 14-year-old Kenyan girl who had been trafficked into this country by a middle-aged white man on a passport that did not bear her name and did not have her picture on it. She was taken to Liverpool, locked in a house and forced to have sex with numerous men. Luckily, she escaped after a few days and was helped by a national charity. She was one of the lucky ones, if you can call it lucky to endure what she had had to. She managed to escape, but how many girls do not manage to do so? How many girls are locked in houses such as those while we are debating this issue today? Even if there were just one, that would be one too many, but there is not just one; there are thousands."
(taken from the Parliamentary publications page.)

PLEASE - Pray for victims, Pray for the authorities, pray for those brave enough to stand up to these traffickers!
Raise the issue in your church, in your family, with your friend, lets make the world far more aware - Lets do something!!!

But ultimately remember, Christians, We are in a battle and it is a battle that we ultimately win!!

Isaiah 25:8 (New International Version)

⁸ he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces.


Amen!

See no Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil

One of My Pet hates is Blasphemy in Films or on TV, I turn off!. This seems extreme to some Christians but not to me! there are good reasons for this and I will do my best to explain.

It does mean that I cant watch some Really good films but this is what's called Sacrifice!

Blasphemy is the ultimate sin against God. In Matthew 12v31 Jesus Says
"blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven"
For Me if God Abhors blasphemy so much that it is a sin which "will not" be forgiven, how can I then let such a sin into my home?


It took me along time to introduce this as a rule in my home but it was an issue I wrestled with for quite sometime, My Wife was convicted of this way before I was and to be honesty it annoyed me, we couldn't get out some really good films or watch certain TV programs but I stuck with it because spending time with her was more important than the programme! But I Kept asking God why this was so bad and what was so wrong with me watching it because if I switch it off, it will still be there so what good was it doing anyway.
One evening I was reading through my bible when I came across the scripture above whilst making my way through Matthew, and it suddenly made sense!! Why would I allow something that offends God so much into my home?
If one of my children came how one day and started blaspheming how would that make me feel? the thought knocked me for six!

If I tell him that I love him and then allow my favourite TV character to Blaspheme in my home, do I really Love him as much as I claim?
Jesus Said that the greatest Commandment was
"Love the Lord your God with all your Heart and with all your soul and with all your Mind" Matthew 22V37

If I watched things that blasphemed the name of Jesus was I loving him with all I am or was the program / Film more important?

Was I allowing this to enter my mind?

What we watch is a direct reflection of who we are and if, as Christians we allow this sin into our homes and minds,then what does that say about our relationship with God?
Please don't get me wrong I am no better than others!!!! I am not saying this to say "look at me Look how righteous I am" cause the truth is far different! - but I do find myself explaining my stance quite frequently!

The question I frequently ask in reply is If it was the name of Allah or some other god used in vain what would happen?

We know from historic events what happens when Allah's name is take in vain in the media, there is a public outcry, But Jesus is OUR Lord and Our Saviour yet we sit by and do nothing! if we as Christian would stand together and simply say "no - We wont watch this", then film / TV producers would sit up and take notice.




Again I am Not judging Christians who do allow this - This is my stance !! and how I feel about it!


God Bless!

The Sway the Truth and the Life!

You ever notice how during a service Christians Sway....

I am sure that there must be a spiritual reason but here's what I think:


1- To much on the night before - you know the score an old friend invites you out for A drink but 1 becomes 2 , 2 becomes 3 and before you know it your running down the road at 1am singing "footballs coming home" so in order to deflect from this you just close your eyes and begin to sway in a valiant attempt to appear super spiritual, when really you just want to sleep.

2 - The person next to you has a particular odour which you want to avoid so you begin to sway from side to side just to take the odd gulp of clean fresh air, problem is that the person on the other side thinks your a bit nuts and begins to sway to keep away from you.

3- the person next to you is a bit nuts.

4- to irritate the person behind - you do the side to side sway on purpose because you are 6ft tall and the person behind you is only 4ft, your church has one of those screens that hang on the wall and you know that if you sway then the person behind has no chance of viewing the screens.

5 - to avoid the person in front who is annoyingly swaying, possibly deliberately to stop you seeing the screens!!

6 - you want to get a closer look at the thing the person in front / to the left or right has on the floor, this could be in the form of the forward to backward sway or the side to side sway, just be careful I have seen many people sway just that little bit to far........

7 - to relieve boredom - your worship leader has been up all night seeing to his 3month old and is playing all the easy songs mainly from the 80's which are really annoying.

8 - Exercise - Let be honest , this is the only chance this week you have had for any exercise so in an vain effort to try to get a little in you use the 20min worship session to get those leg muscles going to prevent them wasting away!

9 - You want everyone in the room to think that you are a very very spiritual person, so you close your eyes but every so often you take a peek to see if anyone is watching, if they are not, you up the swaying ratio until either someone notices or you fall over, thinking that maybe someone will think you have been slain in the spirit - come on I have seen you - you kn ow who you are!!

10 - because some wally close by is pretending to be super spiritual and is trying to get a Mexican wave effect going until they fall over and now your sway is to stop yourself from wetting yourself with laughter.


I'm sure there must be more but I cant think of any. let me know if you have any ideas!!

Builder block

The other day I was assisting a great friend in clearing his house after builders had been in doing a little - Rather a lot really - Bit of work on his house.
I went expecting to help tidy up and help them be able to move back in fairly soon, However when I arrived it was a real mess!!!!. The job the builders had done was a good job but they had left so much mess behind after them it was unreal!! - I would not have been impressed!!

Any way this got me thinking about people and relationships I have had and I found my self asking a simple question

Have I built something up only to leave a the mess for someone else to clean up?

We all try to bring people to God but can quite often get it wrong we can attempt to go it alone and bring them to God in our own strength. IF we are doing it in our own strength more often than not it will result in failure and we may create a mess that someone in the future is going to have to sort out!! But if we rely 100% on God he will do it.
God has a history of showing up at just the right moment... not always in our timing but always perfectly in his.

I can think of several people almost immediately and you know what I am going to pray for each of them (I don't know where they are now....in more ways than 1!)and hope that God does something with each of them.