Be Still

One of my sons is one of those kids who can never sit still. Always flitting about from one place to the next, never finishing what he starts before he’s off to something else.

And he’s got to touch everything – and everyone. We his parents are forever saying “keep your hands to yourself”.

 I think he gets the hyperactivity part of it from me. Watching movies at the cinema is a struggle, having to sit in a chair without moving for so long. I stand up when riding on the train so I can move about. Long car drives just about kill me.

Jiggle, squirm, twist, turn, stretch, walk, run, always moving. Even in bed at night I toss and turn, dragging blankets and sheets here there and everywhere.

There’s a verse in the Bible that says ‘be still and know that I am God’. Which obviously presents a challenge to someone like me who has trouble being still.

But I read recently that the Hebrew word for ‘still’ apparently means “to cease striving”. It’s more a concept of putting our hands down and letting God take care of the situation without my interfering. It was a helpful word picture for me. We use our hands to grab things, or to push things out of the way. Our hands are used to protect ourselves – if I’m going to be struck by something or someone I put my hands up. With hands by our side we feel a bit more open and vulnerable. When we have our hands on something we feel more in control (ala the car steering wheel!)

So the message from God may be more along the lines of : “keep your hands to yourself. Stop pushing or pulling or grabbing – let me help. Stop struggling and allow me to do my thing.”

In all of the circumstances of life, we can better experience the presence of God, the power of God and the peace of God, if we’ll just drop our hands, and allow God to use His.

@lane_colin
www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington

Sand Castles

We are so fortunate to live in close proximity to a beach, and we take just about every available opportunity to go there, being a family of beach lovers.

Our activities there are varied, and dependent upon the weather, naturally. Sometimes our beach visit may just be for the purposes of a long walk, or to sit on the sand and relax. Other times we will take our dinner there and eat at the beach, or take the dog for a walk at the times he’s allowed on there.

Our kids too will do various things – play amongst the beach huts, ball games, fossick, and of course they’ll swim when the weather’s warm enough. Sometimes when it’s not quite warm enough too.

Most visits, irrespective of the weather, will involve some form of building or tunneling. From elaborate sand castles, to water channels, to plain holes – our boys in particular just enjoy digging around in the sand, making something. This can keep them occupied (and quiet, and not fighting) for hours.

As I’m watching them build and dig, and occasionally helping or adding some words of wisdom, I’m thinking ‘as soon as the tide comes in, all that hard work is going to be washed away’. In the back of their minds they know it too, that by morning, there won’t even be a sign of all the hard work they’d put in just the day before.

Sadly, as I look around my community, I see people who similarly spend lots of time and energy working hard building their own little ‘castles’ of stuff and basking in their accomplishments. Yet at some point in the future, it will all be gone, not a trace will remain.

Jesus told a parable about a rich man who made plans to keep tearing down his barns to build bigger ones to house his ever increasing crop yields. He thought to himself that with so much stored up, he could take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. But God reminded him that he could die any day, and then who would get what he’d set aside for himself. And Jesus said a person was a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.

It’s easy to get caught up in, the need to work and toil to make wealth for yourself. To buy things for pleasure’s sake. To get ‘stuff’ to make you happier.

I think Jesus was right – these things are all temporary. And one day they’ll be gone – or you’ll be gone.

But one thing the Bible espouses is that a relationship with God is one that can last forever. Perhaps we should be putting just as much effort into this as we do building bigger barns?

A sand castle looks good for a day.  A life lived unselfishly, a life of giving and loving and seeking after God, well that looks good forever.

www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington

Graffiti

I have a confession to make – when I was a teenager, I was a graffiti-ist.

Not a graffiti artist, because what I did wasn’t art.

On any surface I could find – school walls, railway stations, shops, bus shelters, fences – I would scrawl my nick-name. Sort of like old-fashioned ‘tagging’.

Now as a middle-aged man, with teenage sons, I cringe in shame and embarrassment when I think of this immature boy skulking around with a black texta concealed in my pocket, looking for the next place to record my name.

As I reflect and look back, I ask myself why I did it. What was my motivation? And I guess it was really a pretty poor attempt to be known, to have my name recognised, to seek notoriety, to achieve some local peer fame.

Alas, some of these desires can tend to linger on in life despite subsequent maturity. If I’m not careful, I can still find myself seeking to be recognised, to be admired, to have a degree of fame.

I think there’s a bit of that in all of us, if we’re honest. It is really tough to be truly humble, to do everything we do anonymously. We tend to have within us a desire to seek recognition and congratulations and admiration. Social media forums, such as Facebook and Twitter, make it easier to broadcast about ourselves, and can be traps for the person seeking after humility. (I have to question myself sometimes – why write these articles? Is it for recognition or to genuinely help others on the journey?)

One guy got it right though – Jesus was as humble as you could get. On many occasions he warned those who were on the receiving end of his miracles not to tell anyone. Jesus never sought power, never sought fame, never even sought recognition. He didn’t try to take over politically, religiously or culturally. When he rode into Jerusalem, he chose a donkey. What a sight that must have been! Jesus wasn’t after fanfare or prestige.

For those of us convinced Jesus was the Son of God, this is even more incredible. That one with such power and authority would humble himself to come to the earth to live amongst the people. To be born to poor parents, in a stable, in an animal’s food trough. From birth to death, Jesus was Mr. Humble.

And the Bible contains a promise that those who follow Jesus as the Lord of their lives will receive God’s Spirit, which will help make them more and more like Jesus. This includes the eradication of self-seeking, and an ever-increasing desire to do good deeds anonymously, to show kindness and compassion anonymously, to move quietly through life without seeking to put our names up in lights.

Or on walls, or fences.

It feels good when we’ve done something noteworthy - that no one else needs to know about.

As a boy, I wanted to be known far and wide, and to see my name appear everywhere. Now, as a Jesus follower, there’s only once place I want to see my name – and that’s in the Book of Life, hopefully waiting for me when I check into Heaven!

www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington

Good News

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” 

So announced the angels to the shepherds in the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus recorded in the Bible, in the Gospel of Luke.

The word Gospel means good news, and it was good news of great joy that the angels were announcing. One of the other Gospel writers, Mark, starts his book, his story of Jesus, with the words, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Can you remember the last time you received some good news?

Maybe it was good news that was of great joy. The birth of a baby, the all-clear from the doctor after some tests, a reduction in a bill you had applied for, a child who had been away is coming home. Good news, when we are on the receiving end, can lift our spirits in an instant.

But I wonder, how long since you were good news to someone else?

Offered to help someone who was in a difficult situation, shown someone compassion and empathy, made contact with someone who haven’t seen or heard from in a while, gave a gift to someone when it was totally unexpected and maybe even undeserved.

Father Lou Heriot, writing on this theme, says “We often expect others to be Good News for us. Now is a time for us to be Good News for some others. In these days of gloom I think it would be a real Christmas gift to others if we became realistic bearers of Good News. Jesus would like that of all of us.”

The angels announced good news 2000 years ago. And Jesus is still good news for all who choose to follow him.

May we each not only be bearers of good news, may we be good news to someone who really needs it.

www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington

Hide and Seek

We’ve all enjoyed a game of hide and seek at one time or another.

How long since you’ve played? I still find it great fun.

It’s such a laugh to play with small children, who think that if they can’t see you, then you can’t see them. As long as their face is hidden, even if just behind a pair of tiny hands, they think that they can’t be discovered. Usually they’re giggling at the same time!

As children get older, they understand a little better the concept of hiding, and due to their small frame are able to hide away in some pretty hard to discover places. It’s amazing though that when they find a great hiding spot, often they’ll return to that exact same spot, time after time, making them easy to discover.

Then over time they become really good, puzzling even the cleverest adult. But the longer it takes for them to be found, the more they begin to worry that they might never be found, and I’ve often had my kids reveal themselves because they thought I had stopped looking for them and they might have been stuck there forever.

As an adult I come up with some great hiding spots, only to discover that my belly is sticking out, or my feet, or my hair, and I’m easily detected. Or that cupboard I used to be able to fit in has somehow shrunk, and the door is left ajar – a tell-tale sign that I’m in there.

Did you know that hide and seek is one of the earliest activities of man recorded in the Bible?

Early on in Genesis we have Adam and Eve, who have broken the rules by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, and, knowing they’ve done the wrong thing, they try to hide from God among the trees in the Garden of Eden. God calls out “where are you?” and like little kids inexperienced at the hide and seek game, Adam calls back – “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

How amusing that they thought they could hide from God.

How sad that ever since, people have felt they have been able to hide their ‘sinful’ behaviors.

The writer of Psalm 139 knew there was no hiding from an all-seeing, all-knowing God, declaring ‘Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit? To be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, you’d find me in a minute – you’re already there waiting!’

You can’t play hide and seek with God. God always finds you!

But the great news is that God always forgives you.

Better to bring it all out in the open, to confess our failings, and to receive the wonderful gift of divine forgiveness. Don’t be a hider. Be a seeker.

www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington

The BBQ saga

We need to introduce a compulsory new subject into our school system. Urgently!

We need to teach ‘Assembly’ – the art of putting things together that you have bought that come as flat-packs - all in parts and pieces in a box.

Everything I buy seems to come in a box, full of screws and nuts and bolts and washers…

My most recent purchase was a BBQ – and it came in a box! So I had to get the screwdrivers, spanners, hammers – and then open up that little book entitled ‘assembly instructions’.

I read them carefully. I looked at the pictures. I counted out all my parts and pieces. I sorted everything out, took a deep breath, and began.

Things seemed to be going well as I continually referred back to the pictures, back to the instructions – until I realized I had the legs on around the wrong way!. So everything had to be undone and redone.

As I got to the end of one stage I realised I had a piece left over. I could see where it was supposed to go but I couldn’t get it to fit. Fortunately a friend was visiting, and I showed him the offending, ill-fitting piece. He was able to quickly identify that it was supposed to go on the inside, not on the outside where I was trying to put it.

While I was thanking him profusely, he quietly pointed out that the legs were on the wrong ends. Aagghh. How could I have got things so wrong? I had the instructions, I had the diagrams. I thought I was following them correctly.

With this correction of a friend, I was able to get things right, get it all connected and tightened, and was able to enjoy the fruits of my labour at dinnertime. And I was only short 2 nuts, which I must have put somewhere they weren’t supposed to be. Almost perfect.

Christians have the Bible, we have the teachings and the example of Jesus, but sometimes, no matter how carefully we think we’re reading the instructions, we get the application wrong. We misinterpret something, or misunderstand how it’s supposed to be applied.

As I came across the problems with my BBQ construction, I was heard to say “stupid BBQ” “these instructions are wrong” “they haven’t made the BBQ properly!” when all along it was the incorrect following of the instructions, and my handling of the pieces that was wrong.

Unfortunately, many outside the Christian faith see the mistakes that Christians make and either say, “stupid religion” “the Bible is wrong” or “the whole God thing makes no sense”.

And those who call themselves Christian can easily get discouraged by the mistakes and misunderstandings and misbehavior of themselves and/or their fellow believers.

I encourage you Christians to keep at it, keep referring to the instructions, listen to the counsel of a friend, and don’t be afraid to undo and start over again in matters of following Jesus.

I encourage those outside the Christian faith not to blame God or the Bible or religion in general for the awful mistakes and misapplication that followers sometimes make. They’re just learning and trying to put things together in the way that the manufacturer (God) intended.

And to the Minister for Education, please teach my kids how to assemble flat-packs, so I don’t have to endure another Saturday afternoon like the BBQ assembly day again.

www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington

WWJD?

I guess you’ve seen or heard of the acronym WWJD either on bracelets or stickers or badges. For some it’s just a fashion statement, for others it’s a constant reminder of the message – What Would Jesus Do?

I’m led to believe that it originated from an 1897 novel by Charles Sheldon about a small-town pastor who encourages his congregation to live a year based on that question. In each situation to consider what Jesus would do, and act accordingly. It was picked up in the late 20^th century and became a Christian marketing sensation.

Thomas a Kempis was a 15^th century monk who hundreds of years earlier wrote a piece with a similar sentiment entitled The Imitation of Christ, exhorting people to do just the same thing – to imitate Jesus in all the situations of life.

Author Ed Dobson recently took things a little further. He determined to live for an entire year exactly how Jesus would have lived. He ate kosher, grew his beard, observed Shabbat and all the Jewish feasts and festivals. In addition, he set a goal to read a Gospel a day (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), so that within 12 months he would have read (or listened to, as the reading became tedious) each Gospel story over 90 times. So keen was he to discover not just how Jesus lived, but what he taught and modeled, and to live that out as best he could.

He found it very difficult. The lifestyle to some degree, but to live out the teachings he found even tougher.

I find it difficult too.

To love your enemies, to give to anyone who asks, to turn the other cheek. Much easier said than done.

I’m comforted somewhat by the fact that those who were with Jesus as he was teaching these things, and modeling them, even they found it difficult. And they had a living, breathing example right in front of them. They were with Jesus himself!

So is it just too hard? Should we forget trying to imitate Jesus and live out his teachings?

I have found that it requires me to start afresh each day, with a fresh resolve, to do the best I can to live according to the teachings and example of Jesus. He said we were to take up our cross daily, and to follow him. For me this means not living by my own human instincts and desires, but living by my God instincts. And persisting on a daily basis in spite of my failings.

And when I do this, when I give living like Jesus my best shot, I find my life so much more fulfilling, so much more satisfying, so much more joyous and rewarding.

I believe that Jesus provides the absolute best blueprint for living on Earth. Why not read the Gospels through a few times and see if you agree?

Then may we all do our best, each and every day, to live as imitators of Jesus.

www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington