Escape to the Country – but not from yourself

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Escape to the Country is one of the property programmes that I often watch on TV especially if they are visiting an area that I like. For those not familar with the programme, it features a couple who are looking to move from the town in which they currently live to relocate to the country. The presenter of the programme finds them four houses to look at in their favoured location and we get to see what they think of these properties. The idea is that they are looking to start a new life, hence the name Escape to the Country.

If we are being honest I expect many of us given the resources would be interested in moving to a nice location and starting a new life, leaving our problems behind. However, there is one slight problem here because a change of location does not mean a nice rosey new life. Why? Well because the biggest cause of problems in my life is “Me” and the biggest cause in your life is “You”. Changing location does not actually really change anything.

If I have a problem with anger whilst living in Hampshire and then move to Cornwall, the anger will go with me because the problem is with me! I need to change. I need to deal with the anger. Movng location will not solve this. And the only way I know is to confess this sin to God and ask for His forgiveness and cleansing touch to heal me of this. So by all means enjoy watchng Escape to the Country but please remember that you cannot escape yourself!

Young Apprentice

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Last Monday something very unusual happened on Young Apprentice. Lewis Roman, a member of the losing team, when asked who he would bring back to the boardroom by Lord Sugar said himself. Now for anyone who has ever followed either The Apprentice or Young Apprentice would know contestants just do not do this. Yet this time Lewis was honest and admitted that he was to blame for the failure of the task. As Lord Sugar has correctly observed in this new series they all seem keen to take the credit for anything that is successful, even if it was nothing to do with them, and very reluctant to admit any mistakes they have made!

I think that it is easy for us to be like the contestants in the show and refuse to admit when we are wrong too. However as Christians we should be not be like this but rather be prepared to admit when we are wrong. It’s not always easy to do this but if we refuse to admit our sins we are unlikely to grow as Christians.

Joe Frazier

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Joe Frazier yesterday died from liver cancer. For those of us of a certain age he along with Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Ken Norton was part of the golden age of heavyweight boxing in the 1970′s. Back in those days you had one undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and the title actually meant something, not three or four boxers holding different versions as it is today.

Many people will remember his three epic fights with Ali and how Joe was the first person to beat him as a professional in their first encounter. To say that the rivalry between Ali and Frazier was intense is an understatement. It was deeply personal and they once had a punch up on TV whilst being interviewed on a chat show! And of course this also meant their fights had a real edge to them. The third fight in Manilla was a gruelling contest and both men fought to a standstill and were totally exhausted when the fight was stopped by the referee before the 15th round could start. In one sense they both lost that day as that fight was Ali’s last great one.

I doubt if we will ever experience an era in boxing such as the one that Joe Frazier was involved in and so boxing fans will remember that time with fondness. I don’t normally blog on boxing but decided to make an exception today as Frazier was at his peak whilst I was at school and thoughts of him and Ali bring back a few memories for me. It is sad to hear of his death. RIP Joe Frazier.

Using Your Time Wisely

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Our vicar yesterday was preaching on the 5 wise virgins and the 5 foolish virgins from Matthew 25. During the course of his message he reminded us of how important it is that we use our time wisely.

I am always personally challenged by this as I know how easy I find it to waste time. It’s easy to fritter time away and not do anything productive with it. Before you know where you are another day has gone. Yes there is a time to rest, a time to play and a time to work and each of these are important. However if you are anything like me then you need God’s wisdom and help to get this right.

There is a very helpful verse in Psalm 90:12 that we can pray for ourselves: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

None of us know how long we will live on this earth. So it is important to use our time wisely.

John 3:16 – For God So Loved The World

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For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life, from John 3:16, is probably the verse that conveys the message of the Bible the best.

The 20 second video I made below last night endeavours to illustrate this. I’m not expecting any oscar nominations for it! However if it helps in any way to show God’s amazing love to just one person then I would be delighted.

It will be dark but the light is coming

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This weekend sees the end of British Summer Time for 2011 and from Monday I will be driving home from work in the dark for the next few months. In recent weeks I have grown used to coming home in the twilight but from next week it will be the real thing – darkness!

To be honest I don’t really like driving in the dark. It’s harder to see pedestrians who like me insist on wearing black coats and just wandering out into the road without thought of the traffic. Although I don’t need to wear glasses for driving yet, I do find it harder to judge the distances between cars when I pull out of a side road in the dark. And some motorists will insist on shining their bright lights into my eyes too!

It can be a bit depressing this period leading up to the shortest day, 22 December, as the days get ever shorter. However the thing that I tell myself is that as soon as we reach the shortest day then the nights start to slowly draw out again. Each day brings more daylight.

The darkness may be coming but I know that eventually the light will return. The light will overcome the darkness.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

The Sermon

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Every week when we go to church we usually hear a sermon during the service. The preacher has normally prepared their sermon during the week, spending time in study and prayerful preparation for the delivery of it. They believe that it is God’s word for their congregation for the week. So this is a very important and serious task they are undertaking.

Logic suggests then that in the light of the above those of us who are listening ought to pay careful attention to what is being said. If we believe that our minister is delivering God’s word then we should be alert to what is being said. However if I’m honest most weeks I have forgotten what the sermon was about by the end of the day. And if I’m being very honest there are weeks where I have forgotten it before the end of the service!

This is by no means a reflection of any of the preaching that is done at my church but totally down to me. If we, or more precisely me, do believe that the Bible is God’s word then it’s time to take the weekly sermons more seriously. This will mean thinking about it during the week and maybe also discussing it with other church members too.

Personally speaking I think that if a housegroup is wondering what to study in their weekly meetings then they could do a lot worse than look at the sermon from the previous Sunday. Not in a critical way of course but so that the members can remind themselves what God was saying through it and to see how they are working it out in their own life.

The Working Life – Getting the Balance Right

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There was an interesting program on ITV last night looking at the issue of work / life balance and why we in Britain work longer hours than our European neighbours.

One of the issues addressed was health and the detrimental effect working longer hours has on people. According to a survey that they carried out:

32% said that their work / life balance has made them ill

74% said that they suffered from work related stress.

Whilst another survey said:

30% check their work emails at weekends

20% take work phone calls at home

One of the people featured in the program was a software developer who recently moved to Denmark from London to work for a bank. His working hours are now 9am to 5pm (Monday to Thursday) and 9am to 4.30pm (Friday). When working in London he worked from 8.30am / 9am through to approximately 9pm each day. He now has a much better family life and says that the long hours he worked in London did not mean that he was actually any more productive in his work.

I think we certainly have a few lessons that we need to learn from our European neighbours here! Bur the difficult question remains how are we going to change the long hour culture in this country?

Don’t forget the East Africa Famine

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There have been so many major stories in the news this year. We have seen the uprisings in Libya and Egypt, the phone hacking scandals and the recent riots in many of our cities. However one story that has not had enough publicity in my opinion is the East Africa Famine. Hundreds of thousands of people are still desperate for food and facing unimaginable suffering yet I have not seen any news reports on the famine on the TV screens for a while now.

I expect that if we are being honest most of us feel hopelessly inadequate when we see these awful scenes on our TV screens. What can we do to help these poor people? I believe that there are two things we can do:

1. Pray – This is something we can all do. Sometimes it is difficult to even know how to pray in these situations. Paul encourages us to pray for our rulers and authorities and this is a good place to start. We need the people in authority not to stop supplies reaching the people in desperate need. Those responsible for distributing the food also need our prayers too. And obviously we should pray for those who are hungry, sick and desperate for food.

2, Give – The various agencies working inEast Africa need money to help them in their work in feeding the hungry. The British government has been generous in setting aside money for helping despite criticism from certain newspapers. We as individuals can also give too. If you are interested in helping then Christian Aid, Save the Children or the DEC would be grateful to receive your donation. And if you are a tax payer then don’t forget to gift aid your donation as that will increase it by over 20%. Even if you can only give a small amount then please give as every pound raised is vital. If everyone in the UK gave £1 then that would be an incredible donation of approximately sixty million pound which would make a substantial difference.