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Sometimes in journeys
So why did you move here? Is a common question people ask us. Referring to my husband’s post 7 weeks that changed my life...that was our quick call and move to Belfast. Before we came we spoke to friends and church leaders who prayed for us and gave us some good advice. One person particularly said, “sometimes in journeys and doing God’s will it can be a smooth transition, but more often than not their are trials, a wall is placed up in front of you. You need to be sure that you have God’s calling to go otherwise when difficult situation arise you will find it even more difficult to get through them and give up. “
Impossible is nothing
Most of us are all familiar with Murphy’s Law – it says, “If anything can go wrong, it will”. If you wash your car on a Saturday morning its most likely to rain that evening. If you go to bed then it’s surely going to happen - the phone will ring and you will have to get out of bed. If you get the engineer out to your troubled washing machine, as sure as anything it will begin to run perfectly as soon as he arrives. When things are going well, something will always go wrong – just wait and see it will happen. When things can’t get any worse, they surely will. Anytime things seem to be going better, it’s just because you have overlooked something. The very fact that things are going well manages to even convince you that something is wrong. Do you ever feel like that?
Long Street
Red:Writers is one of our excellent groups that meet around the city twice a month. You can find out more about red:writers here. Here is a sample of some of the things they have been up to. Enjoy!
Gods Proxy Polaroid
It is God who does the first missional act in history - He sends his word into the nothing, unleashing seven days of perfect and unparalleled creativity. In an almost prophetic statement of everything that his great story line will accomplish God speaks light into being and separates the light from the darkness. Then come the heavens and the seas, vegetation, plants, seeds, trees, fruit, seasons, evening, morning, night, stars, birds and beasts. God speaks and the lifeless nothing bursts into life. And over his new work God makes his first declaration of judgement, that everything he has just created is good.
Tags: Christianity, Identity, Life
A road worth travelling
The first autobiographical book I ever read was Corrie Ten Boom’s ‘The Hiding Place’. I was about 15, and I got a lot more than I had bargained for. Corrie Ten Boom and her family were Jews living in Holland during the Second World War. They spent several years living in a cramped hideout in their home, helping many other Jews to hide and escape. Eventually, in 1944, they were discovered, and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where both Corrie’s father and her sister Betsie died. Corrie’s faith in God remained strong; when she was eventually released, she became an evangelist, and travelled extensively, talking about God’s love and his forgiveness. Probably the most well known part of Corrie’s story is one of forgiveness on an almost unimaginable level, when Corrie came face to face with a former concentration camp guard; one who had not only witnessed, but been part of, the pain and humiliation she and her sister had suffered. I’ll let Corrie tell the story.
Tags: Faith, Life, Made me think, Pain, Suffering
my life is a constant transition…..
my life is in constant transition and i've been told that it will never stop. every once in awhile you feel like you've 'arrived'. but you haven't. don't be fooled. you're just on to the next thing. i've been back in Belfast for about a month now. i had the best time being home in Canada, which i find shocking because i honestly didn't expect it to be. but it was awesome, so awesome that i almost didn't come back, but a lack of purpose and God's direction brought me back, oh and all you lovely people! (i really wish everyone i loved would be in one place, or that flights would be cheaper so i could go home more often) the first few days back were great, except that a few key people in my Belfast life were in Spain, or Africa or just away, so i was a bit lonely for a while there. thankfully some people that i am still getting to know really came through and it made transitioning back easier. i naively didn't think that i would have to transition back to life here, but everything and nothing changed while i as gone. now that i've accepted all this transitioning and have a support system of people when i need it i'm 'on to the next thing'. ........
Tags: Christianity, Faith, Finances, Life
The Doctrine of Chubbhander
It feels like something is happening within Christianity right now. A groundswell of the dissatisfied within the Church is rising during our generation, a gathering of Christians eager to question and stretch our faith in order to save it and breathe life back into it. (Phyllis Tickle and others have labelled this “The Great Emergence” - It’s too early to tell if this name will catch on but, if it does, you heard it here first!) The most refreshing thing about this movement is that it feels ok to voice concerns about some aspects of Christianity which have been handed down to us but which don’t feel in sync with Jesus, who He was and what His priorities were. Where in previous generations questioners or doubters may have been labelled troublemakers or heretics, now there is room in many churches for people to be able to say,”I have problems with this. I don’t understand where this has come from. Does anyone else have problems with this? Let’s talk it through.”
Tags: Christianity, Faith, Life, Made me think
The way to happiness…?
I love tea. I love fruit and herb teas - not to say I don’t like the “normal” black tea which has become worldwide known as the UK’s preferred drink at 5pm each day (but that’s another post in itself!). I like to try different flavours - is that the right word? I was introduced to liquorice earlier this year. I love the sweet, have tried the root but didn’t know they did a tea. I find if I’m open-minded when I try different teas it can be an enjoyable experience. I suppose it’s like trying anything new, if I have a preconception about what it’s going to be like there’s a risk of being disappointed. I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t sure about liquorice tea - it didn’t have a great appeal to me before but now when I see a pack and need more tea I buy a pack. I have only seen one brand who sell it at the moment (I won’t mention the brand as I’ll have to mention there are numerous other brands of tea available!). This particular brand has a motto or phrase printed on a piece of paper at the end of the string attached to the tea bag - does this have a proper name?...I read them then normally move my focus either onto what I was doing or drinking the tea.
Tags: Community, Life, Made me think
Officially cool
A few years back my brother won a competition with a plan to set up a business where coolness can be bought for £5.99 with a certificate and badge to prove it in case anyone is in any doubt! The concept behind this is really taking the mick out of how people buy approval in the form of Converse shoes, an iPhone, or by subscribing to the newest social networking site. People are so desperate to be considered ‘cool’ that they will chase the latest label in order to prove it to those around them.
Tags: Identity, Life, Relationship
I’m not the hook
It was a few years ago that I realized that I have a need, an urge really to control people. Only in that I want people to be fair and be treated fairly. I don't actually want to control all things all people do. That's insane and if you know me you would know I am not a controlling person. I just grew up with people who would lovingly tell me when I was doing something I shouldn't and I was made to own my stuff (thanks Mom!) so I in turn want people to own up to the lame or hurtful things they do, especially if it's done against me.
Tags: Life
The everything
Why do we have such hang-ups about talking money? One thing is certain – Jesus didn’t! Jesus talks about money more times than anything else – except the Kingdom of God. There are more references to money in Jesus’ teaching than there is to Heaven and hell combined. Over half the parables Jesus tells are actually about money and stewardship. There are 2350 verses on money in the Scriptures: 1 in every 6 verses in the Gospels has to do with stewardship.
Spiritual bandaids
I generally consider myself to be quite a laidback, fairly contented kind of person. But sometimes, I get a little frustrated with where I am at in life. This kind of feeling usually comes about as a result of some work-related issue or incident. You know those days, when work just feels like it is going on forever, and you cannot remember what on earth possessed you to select this career, and you feel like you are just treading water, waiting for something dramatic and exciting to happen, but secretly worrying that it never will. Days like that, all my positive, laidback feelings fly out the window and I can find myself having a little moan. I realise it is not a very mature response. But sometimes it is as much as I can manage. And I can guarantee you that as soon as I start to moan, some nice well-meaning Christian (often my mother) will chirp up with those over-quoted words from Jeremiah 29: “God has good plans for you, Emma, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. Yes, I know. I read that verse too. And it is ruining my moan.
Tags: Faith, Finances, Life, Made me think, Suffering