The stars are God's fingerprints

In preparing for a memorial service this week, I came across a lovely piece of writing about God's creation. It reminded me of the Psalms in some ways - the Psalmists were very good at seeing the glory of God in his creation. 

"The stars are God's fingerprints. The sun is a mere smidgen of His radiance. The moon is to remind us that He doesn't sleep at night. The vastness of space proclaims the infinity of His wisdom, while the sand pebble indicates His thoroughness with the puniest details. The lion hints at His fearlessness, the bear at His power, the hawk at His keen insight. And yet, those possess only a tidbit of God's omnipotence and omnipresence. Every tree points toward heaven; every bird has a song to sing; even every moment of wind goes in some direction. There is nothing chaotic about our beautiful designed world. All creation has a message to tell. It says, "Listen, there is a God. There is a God!" - Brent D. Earles

Thought: When last did you look out for God's fingerprints? 

Psalm 8:3-9

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
7 the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents.
9 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Living in Grace

D3LM3

An amazing story of hope

What amazes you about this story?

"When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.  “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith." - Matthew 8:5-10

As I read this, I am taken aback by Jesus' willingness to engage with all people. This centurion was not Jewish, but he was desperate for help. He put aside his pride, position and honour to beg Jesus for help. And in return, Jesus sees into his heart and offers help.

Question: If Jesus could see into your heart today, what would he see?

What 'big' request do you have today? Are you willing to ask Jesus for help?

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Start by listening to the stories of others

When Paul spoke to the learned people in Athens, he noted that they had built a statue “to an unknown God!” (Acts 17:23). They had done this as a safety measure,  just in case they had missed out on one of the many gods – they wanted to cover all their bases. 

What I like about Paul's response to this statue is that he didn't dismiss their religious efforts outright, but rather used it as a bridge to the gospel of Jesus. We would be wise to use this approach even in our own lives as people are still seeking God today. Sadly they are not looking for God in the church, as the church may have failed a lot of people over the years. 

However, it is good to remember that we are not offering them the church (per se), we are offering them Jesus.

Philip Moore offers us this advice: “Luke tells us to stop dismissing people’s stories and instead use them to point people towards Jesus. When we listen for ways to build bridges and point out Jesus where people have missed him, opportunities to call people to repentance are never far away. God is looking for tour guides – ordinary people like you and me.”

What do you make of this? 

Whose story do you need to listen to today? 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

The donkey in the Lion's skin

Aesop, the ancient storyteller, told this remarkable fable: 

"Once upon a time, a donkey found a lion's skin. He tried it on, strutted around, and frightened many animals with his new appearance. Soon a fox came along, and the donkey tried to scare him, too. But the fox, hearing the donkey's voice, said, "If you want to terrify me, you'll have to disguise your bray." 

Aesop's moral: Clothes may disguise a fool, but his words will give him away.

This fable still finds value in today's context. How many times do our politicians try to disguise themselves with titles, propaganda and staged photoshoots, but in the end, their words still give them away?

"Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions." - Proverbs 18: 2

"The mouths of fools are their undoing, and their lips are a snare to their very lives." - Proverbs 18:7

This challenge is not just for the politicians of this world, it is also for ourselves. We may think that by putting on airs of respectability we may win a few supporters, but it is our words that give prudence to our true characters. 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Merry Christmas (Feliz Navidad)

 

The ever popular Christmas song, Feliz Navidad is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year, having been written in 1970 by Puerto Rican singer José Feliciano. The words to the song are simple, but with the extremely catchy tune, it has gone on to become one of the most played carols of all time.

When asked about its success Jose Feliciano said that he wrote it to bring people together – different people, ethnic groups, languages and cultures – especially in the season of peace. He was feeling very lonely in the months leading up to the Christmas of 1970 and was asked to write a song for a new Christmas album. He says, “It was expressing the joy that I felt on Christmas and the fact that I felt very lonely. I missed my family, I missed Christmas carols with them. I missed the whole Christmas scene."

His friend, Rick Jarrard says that no one else was recording in Spanish and English at the time and that the phrase Feliz Navidad was not known in the English world until José did that song. Now, everyone seems to know the phrase and of course the song has been covered by all sorts of famous musicians, including Boney-M, Celine Dion and Michael Buble.

For the record Feliz Navidad means ‘Merry Christmas’ (just in case you didn’t realise thatJ). An interesting fact about Jose Feliciano is that he was born blind and yet was still able to go on to become a well-established artist and sing-songwriter. His courage and dedication remind us that God can make use of all of our talents, no matter our limitations.

When we sing this lovely song, we often only sing part of it, which goes as follows:

Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
Celebremos juntos la vida
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
Y que viva la alegría
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart

May you have a Blessed Christmas and peaceful New Year. Much love from our family to all of you.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

9 - Story of the forgotten poor man

I love a good story. But, I enjoy even more, a story with a great ending. However, as I read through Ecclesiastes 9 today, I was a little saddened by the short story told by Solomon. Have a read of this yourself and see how you feel.

¹⁴ There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. ¹⁵ Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man." - Ecclesiastes 9:14-15

In two verses Solomon tells the bleak story of a hero who was not remembered? Why was he forgotten? Was it because he was poor or was it because the townsfolk soon forgot his wisdom? Did their lives just carry on, because the threat of war dulled their senses? I guess we will never really know the answer to this, but it does lead me to this point:

The story of Easter is about a King who became poor for the sake of humanity. This King gave up his own life, in order to defeat the cunning enemy. The people cheered for a short while, but soon they also forgot what he had done for them. Sadly, very few people remembered the sacrifice of the King.

Let us remember what Christ did for us.

Living in grace
D3LM3

Embracing the stories of others

"As an expression of loving God and loving others, a spiritually formed person embraces the stories of others who love Jesus." - Scot McKnight

I found this quote deeply profound because it challenges me to love others, especially those "others" who love Jesus. It is a call not just to love others, but to also listen to their stories. In fact, it is probably best to listen to the stories of the "other" first - this usually opens the heart to love them more sincerely.

It is easier to ignore someone when you don't know their "story", but it is compelling for us to care for people when we know something of their story.

What do you think?

James 1:19 -  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry

Living in Grace
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Pushing against the Rock

There is a lovely story that I used in the message today, which is called 'The Rock'. I can't claim credit for it, because I stumbled across it myself, but before you read this story please do ONE thing for me - think about that issue or situation you are struggling with at the moment and imagine it to be like a giant Rock. When you have done this, then read the story.

"A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Saviour appeared. The Lord told the man He had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.
This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the Adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind. "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it."
This gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough." 

And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. "Lord" he said, "I have laboured long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have
not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself." 

"Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend will now move the rock."

May God grant you strength and grace to BE STRONG.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Telling our stories

"... to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony." - John 1:7

We all have our own stories to tell. For some of us, these life-stories include an account of our faith experience. The stories we share should never be to make others feel "less significant or spiritual", but rather to encourage others in their faith. When I hear from you about how you have encountered Jesus, it does something to me - it makes me feel part of your journey and connects us on the bigger stage of Life. It also inspires me to carry on. This is why I believe so strongly in the power of narrative and telling our story.

For those of you who can make it on Sunday at 6pm (5th June), we are going to be hearing a few testimonies from our recent Israel trip. We will also be showing a few photos and sharing some scriptures. Come along and we pray that your own faith would be inspired. YOU ARE ALL INVITED!

"The lost coin is found by means of a candle; the deepest truth is found by the means of a simple story." - Anthony de Mello

Living in Grace
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The Rooster and the sparrow

The title of today's blog sounds more like a children's story book (and perhaps I will have to write it one day) - but it is actually something I witnessed in person the other day. I noticed a large rooster walking around a garden complex intimidating all the other birds. He looked imposing and as he strutted his stuff, I wondered what he was thinking - maybe it was something like:
"Hey, look at me! Look how big I am. Get out of my way underlings!"

But, then I saw something that made me smile. A little sparrow landed next to the Rooster and although he was dwarfed by the bigger bird, he didn't back down. He gave as good as he got. And then when the Rooster tried to push his weight around the little sparrow simply flapped his wings and flew away. It was almost as if the Sparrow was saying the Rooster - "you may be big, but at least I can fly higher than you!"

Here is my thought on this little encounter.
"There will always be Roosters in your world, but just remember they probably can't fly as easily as you can! With God on your side, you can rise above the attitude of others. You don't need to let other people's opinions influence your life."

May God's hand of Grace be upon you.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Get the full message

We need to get the full message first, before we jump to a wrong conclusion. Sometimes only half of the message can distort the real truth and this can cause all sorts of heartache and pain. Read this next story and you will see what I mean.

"It is reported that at the close of the Battle of Waterloo, upon the issue of which hung the destinies of Europe, the English people were anxiously awaiting news of the result. Their only means of communication was a system of signal lights flashed across the English Channel. The fog became so dense that only a part of the message was made out. It read, "Wellington defeated." 

Gloom settled upon the English. But imagine their joy when the fog lifted and they received the whole message, "Wellington defeated the enemy." (Sermon Illustrations.com)

In the story of Christianity, there was a moment when the message went out to the world, "Christ is defeated!" Thankfully, this was only half of the real story. When the fog of Good Friday lifted, the world heard the great news that Christ had defeated sin and death! 

As Christ-followers we should remember that the Full message of Jesus Christ is that there is always HOPE - we may need to wait for the full story to be told, but God has won the victory for us.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Some adVICE from me

So, let me tell you this funny story...

On my day off last week, I was doing some woodwork in the garage with Josh. He was helping me potter around and we were having great fun. He asked me to help make something for him and so I needed to drill a hole into a block of wood. I didn't have a vice to hold the wood in place, so I did what any man would do - I improvised. I put the block of wood between my feet and started to drill the hole into the wood. Of course, you can gather what happened next.....

....yes, the drill slipped and I managed to put a hole into the side of my foot. Needless to say there was a lot of blood and I had to rush myself off to the doctor, feeling quite foolish and sore! A few stitches and injections later I returned home and have now vowed to buy a vice!

Here is my reflection on this incident. Sometimes we need someone to hold us tightly and to protect us. A vice does a good job of keeping wood firm and secure, so that you can avoid injuring yourself, while you work on the wood. There are moments in our lives, when we need to rest securely in the loving arms of the Lord, so that he can hold us tightly. His reassuring presence keeps us from all harm and reminds us that he is with us at all times.

Listen to this adVICE....

1 Samuel 25:29 - "Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God."

Zechariah 10:12 - "I will strengthen them in the Lord and in his name they will live securely,” declares the Lord."

Living in Grace
D3LM3