I don't want people to become Christians

I am a Christian. I follow Jesus Christ. I worship the God of the universe, the eternal God, the God who calls himself my Father.

I don't want people to become Christians.

I suspect that people who haven't yet discovered Christian faith think that people like me might be out to 'convert' people like them. That people like me want to entice people like them into church and make them like me - like us  - a Christian. Then, I will have done my bit in bringing them in and converting them, so I can feel I'm being a good Christian; and I will have swelled our numbers - more people in church being Christian.

Hmmm!

I don't want people to become Christians - that's not what I'm about! Jesus didn't want people to become Christians either.

What did Jesus want? What does Jesus want?

To give to us

• To give us back our child-father relationship with God that God always intended we should enjoy
• To give us knowledge of just how precious, unique and deeply loved we are
• To give us purpose in our lives and a reason for living
• To give us comfort, healing and restoration - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually
• To give us calmness and peace inside
• To give us someone to follow when we don't know the way, when we feel lost and uncertain
• To give us family - a community of brothers and sisters of every age, background, culture, ethnicity, social class, in every country of the world

He doesn't want to take from you - your freedom, your money, your time, your happiness

He only wants to give

He doesn't want to make you into a different person

Jesus wants to fully and completely restore you, giving to you over and over again in great abundance - enabling you to be the fullest, free-est, and most wonderfully happy you. Not a watered-down version of you - not a pretend you - but the real you! The most vibrant loving, living, joyful you that you could ever hope to be!


I don't want people to become Christians

I want for as many people as possible to receive from Jesus

Full stop.

My best friend

No matter what age we are birthdays are important. They are important for the 'birthdayee' because they allow him or her to reflect on the past year, to celebrate the good things that have happened, to acknowledge the difficult and painful times, and to think about their hopes for the year to come. For those around them, it allows precious space to really think about just how much this person means to them - how precious they are, how deeply loved.

Today my best friend is celebrating his birthday. As well as being my best friend, he is my lover, my partner, my husband, and daddy to my two children. His name is Mike.

Mike is the cleverest person I know. He has a Phd, he is incredibly academically accomplished. He can retain and store information in his brain that I could not hope to remember for even a day or two! He understands and can talk very knowledgably about all manner of subjects - history, politics, film history, archaeology, science, geology to name but a few. He reads avidly (and always has done) and is interested in almost everything. He is passionate about the environment and protecting it, he writes letters to the Guardian and the BBC commenting on coverage of important issues because he loves this earth and wants it protected.

What Mike cannot bear is injustice; ill-treatment of vulnerable people; prejudice; the stone-hard side of politics which rides roughshod over people and their needs; and capitalism which lines the pockets of the rich and takes advantage of the poor, the struggling, the people who work hard for things they believe in. He is passionate and uncompromising.

Mike is a stay-at-home Dad. He gave up work to care for our eldest when she was 6-months old and I returned to work. For the past 9 years he has lived out the brave step he took to buck the trend and be the one who takes on the burden of the child-care and home chores. He was the one who went to the 'mum and baby' groups. He was the one who queued outside playgroup with the mums. He was the one who washed, fed, cleaned, cuddled our two babies.

Today he works part-time at the weekends at John Lewis and he has become a 'lunchtime supervisor' at the school our youngest child goes to (a 'dinner-man' rather than 'dinner-lady'). For the first few days he was called 'Miss' - the children still don't quite know what to call him! He helps them cut up their food, he mops up spills, he sorts our playground disputes, and he organises basketball games. He does this job because it means he can still be there for our children - before and after school, in the holidays - and because it helps with our family finances.

Mike is quick-witted and very, very funny! He laughs often and others laugh with him. He enjoys comedy and he has a quirky and sometimes completely off the wall sense of humour. It is often humour that he uses to keep troubles in perspective, and remind the people around him that really all is not lost.

Sometimes people do not see his deep wisdom - but I do. He brings it into our relationship, into our family, to his parents and siblings. He is absolutely committed to his loved ones, no matter what the cost to him. All he sees is precious people he wants to give of himself to. All he wants for is their happiness. He loves his children deeply and they love him. He embodies good and gentle fatherhood - he lives it.

Mike isn't a perfect person, none of us are! Mike makes mistakes just like me and you. He has bad days, he gets discouraged, he feels life is hard sometimes.

He also thinks I am simply wonderful! He sees me like no one else does. It's not that he doesn't see my faults, but that his love for me makes them insignificant. I was given Mike by God - exactly the right person for me, a person who could love, and love, and love me.

Happy Birthday my best friend

Happy Birthday - and I love you x

Born precious

Not so long ago four baby girls were born. Each little baby was completely unique. Tiny fingers, tiny toes. A fragile life needing care, needing protection, needing love. Each little one was born precious.

As each of the babies grew they discovered the world around them, they were filled with curiosity, they discovered colours, textures, sounds, and tastes.

They got older and began to adventure into life. There was home, school, streets and parks. There were people - those they saw and lived with, those they clung to, those they loved. There was life - relationships, lessons learned, experiences, challenges.

I passed those four baby girls tonight. All grown up now.

Today each born-precious baby girl is a young woman.

Each of them was working on the streets of Peterborough.

It was dark, and cold as I passed them and my heart went out to each of them. I don't know why they are working as prostitutes today, but I have a feeling it wasn't the childhood dream they each had of what they would be when they grew up.

Life got in the way.

They are still precious. The funny thing is that no matter what has happened, no matter what happens tonight, no matter what happens tomorrow, they are still, still, still precious. I doubt that these grown-up precious baby girls know they are precious, I doubt many people around them do. But I am absolutely sure God does.

As I passed them I wanted to say it, to stop - take a hand, ignore the empty, hollow laughter, to shout it - 'you're so, so, so precious'. But of course in reality I felt helpless, unable to do anything that would help. Words can be empty - especially to those who have been failed by them.

I wonder if these precious lives have even heard of Jesus - except as a swear word. Do they know who he is? Do they know that he would be the one who would not condemn them - who would stand with them? Do they know he would see the precious baby girl - the precious woman, the tender child, the bright light of a life full of possibilities?

I wonder if these precious lives have ever entered a church. Would they ever dream of going into a place like that? Would it seem like another universe? A different world they could never be - would never want to be - part of? Would it be a place where they could rest, be themselves, open up, find the way back to their dreams?

Tonight I am full of questions.

The only place to go to tonight is the arms of a God who knows.

A prayer for those affected by flooding

Gracious God,

In the storms of life, you are our rock.

When we are afraid and uncertain,

You are steadfast and unchanging.

Today we stand with our brothers and sisters,

In the UK and around the world,

Who are affected by floods, by the impact of nature’s storms.

We ask that you will bring relief.

We ask for sanctuary for the homeless,

Hope for the desperate,

And comfort for those whose livelihoods are threatened.

We pray for those seeking to help:

Churches, relief agencies, emergency services, the armed forces,

We pray that they might be equipped and protected.

We ask that in your great wisdom and power,

You might intervene and drive back the waters.

Loving God, hear our prayer.

Amen

Lawmakers

I have a confession to make. I am a lawmaker! No - I'm not an expert in British law, I'm not a legislator or even a solicitor. I don't make the laws of the land but I do make laws - laws for myself!

It's a funny word isn't it - 'law'. But lets take it as 'rules which govern behaviour'. What I can do and what I can't do.

I've only just recognised that I live under quite a lot of laws - these are self-created, self-imposed, and must, must, must be adhered to. Let me give you a flavour of them...

• I will not sit on the sofa and relax at the weekend until all the jobs (chores) are done (evening relaxation is permitted though - once the children are in bed)

• I will not buy clothes for myself unless they are a) bought from a charity shop, b) in a sale with a very good reduction c) essential (e.g. undies)

• I will not enjoy a less-than-very-healthy meal without feeling guilty about the calories

(Of course, with a busy family home the jobs are never all done so weekends end up being far from restful and relaxing.)

As I write these laws down I realise that even this - naming them and recognising them - is a new experience. They are so much part of my life that I couldn't even see them. They governed my behaviour without me even consciously realising it. A bit like a conditioning that was going on without me even knowing it was happening.

But I'm a follower of Jesus. Jesus was God made flesh who came to us because we couldn't reach him. And Jesus came to free us from our failure to abide by the law. See what it says in Romans 8 in the Bible:

"there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering."

As imperfect people we were never able to meet God's requirements for holy living, we always got it wrong, failed, sinned. So Jesus came to free us from a law we could not keep. He took our punishment for law-breaking on himself so that we could be free.

Galatians 5 says:

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

A yoke is a metal harness which would have been placed around the neck of an animal or person as they strained to pull a heavy load.

So...

I am free! My freedom has been bought with a great price. I am free to live, to be joyful, to relax, to laugh, to work, to learn, to sit down and to run, to enjoy God's provision and blessings, to eat food I enjoy, to buy pretty things, to sit on the sofa on a Saturday afternoon and watch a film.

Because of his great love and the Holy Spirit that lives in me I will want to be more and more like Jesus - it will bring me ever increasing joy. I will want to be kind and generous, to live responsibly, to fulfil my commitments, to be a blessing to others. So why do I need my rules?

I don't need rigid, self-imposed rules

You don't need them either

The price has been paid - our loving heavenly Dad wants us to enjoy his provision. It would break my heart if, when my daughter had done something wrong and had a telling-off, when I had told her I forgave her and gave her a hug, if she continued to grieve her misdemeanour and punished herself. If this continued, no matter how many times I told her - you are forgiven, you are free from any ill-feeling, be happy!

This is the beginning of a new chapter for me - I'm going to become a law-breaker!

Arise

Rise up my sisters. Not in anger, not in frustration, but clothed in grace, powerful and calm in our minds. Determined, steadfast and ready to enter into our inheritance as daughters of the king - warrior daughters.

I believe that a movement is developing, I believe that God has placed in the hearts of women and men a passion for all of us to be the people God created us to be - women and men, girls and boys. For many, many years I have had a heart for women and a desire to see oppression lifted and women arise, but until recently I have tried to dampen this down. I believed that the passion that burned within me was 'un-Christian'. It is only very recently that I have come to believe that it is God himself who has placed this passion there. And if God has placed it there, it is for a reason (and how can a God-breathed passion be 'un-Christian'?).

So let me tell you about this passion. I look at the girls and women around me and I see talented, gifted, clever, creative, brave, faithful women of God. I see immense potential to serve alongside our brothers in Christ. I also see women full of self-doubt, low in confidence, unsure, putting their gifts on hold. And these are the very same women who have hearts that shine with the light of Christ.

In Matthew 5:14-16 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised ) Jesus says:

¹⁴ ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Why would God have given women gifts if we were not supposed to use them, or only supposed to let a little of them be seen? 

Spiritual warfare is a reality. We are told in Ephesians 6 that we are indeed in a fight and we know that we have an enemy who would seek to stop the breaking in of God's kingdom today here on earth. If you were up against a powerful army, would it not be a huge advantage to you if you could diminish, wound and even kill over 50% of them - cutting the opposition in half? Of course it would! I believe that the church - God's people - across the world is weakened by sustained attack on women. Here in the West it leaves women quiet, afraid to get it wrong, afraid to let their gifts flourish, doubting themselves and insecure. I believe it is time for us to rise up with our brothers, armed with spiritual weapons, secure in our status as warrior daughters, ready to fight!

Let me give you an insight into the war that is waged against women and girls across the globe. 

·         39,000 baby girls die annually in China because parents don't give them the same medical care and attention that boys receive - and that is just in the first year of life.

·         In the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 5000 women and girls have been doused in kerosene and set alight by family members or in-laws - or been seared with acid - for perceived disobedience in the last nine years

·         Girls in India from one to five years of age are 50 percent more likely to die than boys of the same age. Parents are less likely to vaccinate girls and girls have to be sicker than boys to be taken to hospital

·         The US state Department has estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, 80% of them women and girls, mostly for sexual exploitation

('Half the Sky' by Kristof and Wudunn, 2010)

This has to stop! My sisters - your sisters - all over the world are under attack. It has to stop because even now the Kingdom of God is poised to break into the darkness and flood it with light.

I believe that the daughters of the King, rising up and standing with their brothers are an immense force for good. We will no longer turn our faces from the darkness and creep away in fear. We will no longer say we are inadequate and helpless. We will no longer cower. We carry swords made of the promises of God, we wear armour woven from our experiences of His grace. We have loud voices and strong bodies. We stand together with sisters and brothers, arms linked and we step out in trust of a King who has already declared us victorious.

I believe that we are called to arise sisters. To see - perhaps for the first time - the threat we really pose to the darkness we see around us. Because that is the huge irony of our oppression - that it confirms the enemy is afraid of us. I believe it is time for us to look in the mirror and at one another, and recognise the warriors we truly are. 

It is time dear sister, for our eyes to be opened to see ourselves as we are in the sight of God. Even today we can help one another on this journey by actively and frequently acknowledging, naming and affirming one another's gifts. It is time for groups of women to sit down together, each of them naming and celebrating the gifts they have been given - no false modesty, no self-doubt and no lack of confidence.

So what do we do? How do we arise? Where do we start? I recently heard of a saying that has stuck with me: 'Think big. Start small. Start now.'

I believe that we must gather. We are a body and the different parts must come together to make a whole. Together we will affirm each other, encourage each other, and stand with each other.
 
I believe we must be equipped. We need to learn who we really are. We need to throw off chains and the lies that bind us. We need to recognise our call to the mission of the King. We will pray, we will listen to our God, we will invite the Holy Spirit in, and we will praise our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.
 
I believe we must act. We must go out as a powerful force for good  - exercising compassion, kindness, and challenge, speaking out and standing up.

For now I leave you with our call to action:

"...make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!"

Romans 13: 11-14 (The Message)

The imperfect tree

There was once a sapling that grew in a field. It grew stronger and bigger each springtime and summer, and each autumn and winter it rested and prepared to grow again. After many years, one late summer's day the sapling looked at itself and realised it had become a tree - it had reached maturity. Although it had many years of growth ahead, it was no longer a sapling, no longer a youngster. With this maturity for the first time the tree looked at itself. It looked at its leaves, its branches, its trunk and its bark. At first it gazed in amazement at all it was. 'How bright and fresh my leaves look' it said to itself, 'how strong and sturdy my trunk is', it remarked, 'how wide my canopy is,' it said with a smile. But then the tree noticed something - 'goodness,' it said 'my bark is broken in that patch'. It stared at the imperfect bark which was torn and flaky. 'Oh dear,' it said 'there is a hole in that branch!' And indeed there was - a small round hole in one of the tree's sturdiest branches. 'Oh no,' it said in horror 'look at that branch there!' The tree had noticed a branch which was all twisted and bent out of shape. Instead of reaching upwards to the sky it bent low and almost touched the ground. As the tree stared at these imperfections great tears fell from its eyes 'my bark is too rough, I have a hole in my one of my best branches and I have an eyesore of a branch. I am all ruined!'

The tree, in despair at itself, invited the wind to come and blow strongly. 'Blow me away,' it said, 'blow me down'. But the wind would not. The wind was wise and saw the tree's anguish. Instead of blowing the tree down she sang a soft song and called out to some of the tree's unseen friends. 'Come,' she whispered, 'come, come, come'.

The first to arrived was a black beetle called Boris. Boris crawled laboriously up to the tree's sad eyes, unfolded his wing case, and dried the great tears with its tissue-soft wings. 'Thank you,' said Boris. 'Your bark has sheltered me and my family for many years. You have protected us from frost and birds. That is why your bark is rough - we have made our home beneath it.' Boris scurried quickly down under the bark as the next friend arrived.

A Blue-tit called Beatrice brought fresh mint leaves in her beak as she landed lightly on the tree's trunk. She freshened his tear-stained eyes with the leaves and then said 'thank you! You have provided me and my lover with a safe place to rear many broods of chicks. The hole in your sturdiest branch is the cosiest and safest nesting place in all the world!'

'There is one more,' the wind whispered to the tree. Presently a young boy no more than 8 years old ran up to the tree from across the field. He clambered onto the low knarled branch and the wind swung him gently forward and back. He smiled and laughed out loud. He shrieked with excitement as the wind blew stronger and the leaves rustled around him. The tree smiled down at the boy and bounced his branch a little to add to the fun.

The tree realised that what he had thought were failings, were blessing to his friends - Boris the beetle, Beatrice the Blue-tit and the little boy. The wind whispered 'yes - your bark is rough, yes - there is a hole in your sturdiest branch, and yes - one of your branches is low and twisted. Would you be any other way?' The tree shook his head and his canopy swayed - 'no - I am perfectly imperfect!'

Happy 2013 xxx