Appearing at Bedford Baptist Sunday May 28th 10am
Should be great.
Andy is an authentic artist with a great testimony to share.
He is bringing along a whole multi media production,
should be awesome!

There is something about Henry Blackeby’s work that has always troubled me, and I haven’t known why.
Henry says, in a nutshell, look and see what God is doing and go do that. Fair enough. Yet although I cant disagree with it, it doesn’t ring true. Now, thanks to Erwin I get why, its because Blackeby does not go far enough.

“Yet I think its important to add that while God has been working in human history since He breathed life into Adam, there are many things yet to be done, and beyond this, many things yet to begu. There may be another question that needs to be asked beyond, “what is God doing?” and that is this: “what is God dreaming?” Is there something that God wants initiated and He’s waiting for someone to volunteer?”

Blackeby’s take on vision and leadership has also troubled me because of his basic premise. How do we discover what our vision is, if we are just doing what is, rather than dreamin what could be? As Erwin points out, we need to dream, to be inspired, to see what could be, rather than only what is. We need to move from being observers to practitioners.

A recent forum discussion had me thinking about forgiveness and bitterness again.
How trapped are we, how silly are we, if we allow people who have hurt us in the past to keep us in captivity.
We do this if we don’t forgive them
I am not saying we need to get them to say sorry, that may be impossible. They might not think they have done anything wrong, they may not admit they have done anything wrong, they may be dead! You know what else? They may not have done anything wrong. We may be wrong.

What I am saying is this. Forgiveness is about letting go. Letting go of the pain, letting go of the rejection, letting go of the hurt. Its not easy, but Jesus said we are to forgive those who hurt us 70×7. In biblical terms, this means we are to keep on forgiving them. Not easy to do, especially if they are self righteous, and still hurting us.

But if we cant let that hurt go, if we cant forgive them, set them free, they hold us captive. Even if they dont know it.

Job 42:10 (NLT) – When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!

Ephesians 4. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Bitterness and unforgiveness are the quickest and most effective way of introducing negativity into your life.

Heard a lot about Erwin Raphael McManus.

A friend has lent me a copy to read, looking forward to sharing some thoughts on this blog.
Here’s a quote or two to kick us off,
“Somehow we all know to play it safe is to lose the game”
“However mundane a moment may appear, the miraculous may wait to be unwrapped within it”.
And here is a blurb about it,
“Using the biblical account of Israel’s war with the Philistines, McManus compares Saul with Jonathan to illustrate the tremendous impact possible in a life of purpose and adventure as opposed to a life of routine, apathy, and missed opportunities . Seizing Your Divine Momement will help you understand the potential of a small moment combined with personal courage. Such moments must not be missed. They are the place where destiny is shaped and divine life ripples outward. These moments are everywhere, though you can often fail to recognize them. You need a fearless, ready stance, believing that God wants to use you as a catalyst for change.
Learn to recognize your divine moment and lay hold of it with force. Put and end to passive observation, paralyzed by the need for perfect opportunity, and start seizing the raw, unshaped potential of your life with God.

5 I think of the good old days, long since ended, 6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and think about the difference now. 7 Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again show me favor? 8 Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? 9 Has God forgotten to be kind? Has he slammed the door on his compassion?

I was re-reading this Psalm again this morning and was struck by a couple of things.
As I have been preaching through the series on “Identity Theft” I have been saying we can be captive to our past, whether it be a good past, or a bad one.
The Psalmist here expresses this beautifully. “I think of the good old days” He thinks of the difference now. Then he cries out, “Has He (God) slammed the door on His compassion?
Ever felt like God was giving you the big ‘heave ho’ ? Ever wondered why God wasn’t doing what He promised?

Well you are not alone in such thoughts, and to not express them to God is an issue. We need to share these frustrations with God, get them out there.

Later on in the Psalm the Psalmist asks God to “arise and defend Your cause”. Ultimately it is His cause. Our lives, our godly hopes and dreams are His cause. And we have the right, and responsibility, to ask Him to ‘arise’. In fact asking God to do this is an expression of our own hope and faith in Him, despite how we angry, frustrated or dissapointed we might be feeling.

We celebrated Mother’s Day in church yesterday. The mums got a special cake each, and some mums were honoured with special chocolates. We also had some prayers given for mums, and prayer offered for a family ascociated with our church who lost their mum recently.

My mum is a great mum, and always has been.

However not all mums are wonderful. Yesterday I sensed in a number of people a real heaviness. Lost dreams, mums not being wonderful, mothers absent. Family not what it should be. Like all such events, such as Christmas, for those without, the sense of loss and dissapointment was palpable. Even for those single adults who dream of being a mum or dad, husband or wife. Life does not always turn out as it is presented by a Hallmark Card. In fact it can be deeply dissapointing.

It is for good reason that we call God “Abba Father”. There is nothing better for me than my son giving my a big ‘huggle’ and telling me ‘I love you dad’. It doesn’t get much better than that. Not everyone has that experience. I hope and pray that those who struggle with what they dont have, especially at these significant times on our calender, can find some comfort with their heavenly Father. But that does not mean they dont miss the human touch that God has designed us all for.

A fairly insipid perfomance from our much loved (by the media) blue and gold tinged opponents up the road saw them scrape home against a much improved Collingwood. I dare say if Buckley had played, it may have gone the other way.

It was also fairly disgraceful to hear the cheers when Rocca hurt his shoulder, and the loud booing at their own players as well as Collingwood players.

There was also an unsavoury incident involving a inebriated female fan giving Didak a ‘wave’ with a certain finger, and Didak giving her a spray.

So much for all the fuss and vitriole given to the Freo supporters last week!