Out of Interest

I am grateful for the many people that have touched my life and who inspire me in my Christian journey. I am deeply grateful for them, as well as I am for you - thanks for taking the time to read this blog.

This post is about introducing some of my friends to you.

Dion Forster writes about his journey in his blog called An Uncommon Path. Today's post on 'fasting' is deeply challenging.

John Van De Laar has just released his new book, 'The hour that changes everything' and you can read more about his ministry at Sacredise.

David Barbour writes an insightful and inspiring blog called Skypilot. Stop by and have a look sometime.

Gareth Killeen heads up CruxMedia, which is busy transforming the social media scene by loading relevant and life-changing Christian content onto Mobile phones. Check out So What

Jenny Hillebrand has been blogging for years. This year she is based at the Seth Mokitimi Seminary and her powerful insights, into life as a Seminarian, are well worth following. Her blog is called Carpenters shoes

I will blog again about some of my other friends next week. I pray that you will have an awesome weekend.

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

Whose team?

Remember when you were kids and teams needed to be chosen? If you were lucky enough to be captain of one of the teams, you always tried to choose the best players first - well, that's normally what happens!

Sometimes we treat God in this way. We think we are the captain of the team and naturally God would want to be on my team. In truth, should it not be the other way around? God is always the Captain and we must do all we can to be on his team. Thankfully, God wants us on his team, despite the fact that we drop the ball more often than not. That's Grace!

We open ourselves up for huge disappointment when we mistakenly believe we can manipulate God onto our team, regardless of what our team stands for. God is the rightful Captain and his teams always play for love, truth, peace, justice and mercy.

"I do not boast that God is on my side. I humbly pray that I am on God's side." - Abraham Lincoln

Join the right team.
Read 2 Chronicles 15:2

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

Jesus' Star

Our 5 year old son took us by surprise last night! It was just getting dark and we had finished eating supper, when he quickly popped outside to get something. A few seconds later he came running inside saying, "Come and see Jesus' star! Come and see Jesus' star!"

Our immediate response was, "Our child has lost his marbles!" However, it slowly dawned on us that he was talking about the Evening Star and then we chuckled about it. He made the simple connection between the star at Christ's birth and the one he was seeing now. What is even more profound is that he taught me another lesson -"Jesus is present with us today, as much as he was real 2000 years ago."
Thank you Nathan for the reminder.

Matthew 2:1-2 - "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

And a child shall lead them...

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

What will it take? (Part 2)

I often pull my hair out (no jokes) with people who come to God when things are going wrong in their lives and then stay at church for a few months and finally disappear not be seen again - of course, until the next crisis brings them back. God becomes a kind of 'doctor', but he never truly feels like a friend.

The reason I feel strongly about this, is not an issue of 'judgement', but rather from the point of Life. Jesus promised us the 'abundant life' (John 10:10) and that implies that through the struggles we face, we can know the hand of God with us. God will give us his peace and joy, through every circumstance - good, bad or ugly! God is delighted when we share our entire lives with Him. He takes delight in us as his children, but we treat him as a distant specialist.

So, what will it take for some people to come back into an awesome relationship with God? Sadly, for many, it will take:
1. Grief or loss
2. Financial crisis
3. Broken relationships
4. Uncertainty or fear
5. Needing urgent answers
6. Tragedy
7. Loneliness
8. ___________ (you fill in the blank)

Thankfully, God's incredible Grace, still receives us when we come to Him during these times and God gladly helps us through these crises. However, I am sure God would love to be in relationship with us, all year round, and then to guide us through the 'valleys' as a companion and friend.

Perhaps I am being too harsh? What do you think?

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

Photo from here

What will it take? (Part 1)

What will it take to get you to feel 're-energised' again? A holiday, a day to yourself, a soaking bath, a red-bull, a good sleep? Sometimes the simple movement we have to make is to realise 'what it will take' and then we face the harder task of taking initiative and actually doing it!

When the rich young ruler asked Jesus this question in Mark 10, he was asking because he felt as if he was lacking something in his life - he was in a rut, he was feeling unfulfilled, he craved something more. He may as well of asked, "Jesus, what will it take for me to feel alive again?"

Jesus gave an answer which the young man didn't like and so he went away sad and disillusioned. He knew the answer, but he was unwilling to take Jesus' advice. There is another lesson in Mark 10 (besides the usual one's) and that is this: "Don't ask the question, unless you are prepared to act on the answer. How desperate are you to know 'what it will take' to change your life around?"

Action: Read Mark 10. What are your thoughts on this ?

I have made a few changes to the design of the actual blog page, which are just a little experiment. Please make a turn to www.delmelinscott.blogspot.com for 20 seconds and let me know your thoughts.

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

If you like Polar Bears then you must click on the photo link

This is tough to live out

In our preaching series on "Is there more to Church?" we focused yesterday on the 'Church as the Family of God.' One of the challenging things for me, about being part of a Christian Community, is how do we continue to worship alongside people that we are struggling to 'like?' What options do we have? We could leave our church and soon find ourselves struggling to 'like' someone else, in another church. Or we could just ignore them? Or perhaps change our service times? But, does this actually get us anywhere?

The Biblical response is the hardest option to live out. Reflect on these thoughts from John for a while:

1 John 4:20-21 - "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

Love is always the hardest option, but in the end, it is the only solution. Try it sometime!

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

Inspiring photo

It seems that weekends are quite hectic for most of us, so I decided to change the pace of this blog and upload another cool photo. Take a look at the picture and think about what feelings it stirs within you.

There is light in the midst of the darkness - His name is Jesus!

May you have a blessed day.

Living in Grace,
D3LM3