Work in Progress

There are two moments that I really love celebrating. The first is that great feeling you get when you’ve just read the last chapter of Revelation, knowing that you’ve just finished another BibleReadthrough and that you get to start back at Genesis again! Although I have just started the ReadThrough again and am finishing up Exodus, that’s not the one I want to talk about…

The other great feeling is that amazing feeling you get when you fill up the last page in a journal!  And I love it because of the way I journal.

I call these books my “prayer journals” because I use them to pray in (strangely enough). They began as a tool to help me to focus when I was praying, because I found the time I had was always in inconvenient places like one-hour commutes on the train, or sitting in a busy coffee shop. So one day I bought a blank book and decided to write my prayers. (I started journaling several but never finished one, and can still remember 3 or 4 years ago, sitting in a coffee shop in Glasgow, filling up the last page of a journal for the first time. I quickly jumped up, hugged my friend Sarah, we celebrated a little, and then I went hunting for a new one!)

It has been a wonderful tool for me. It taught me to prayer longer. It has allowed me to prayer better. I can monitor my prayers and check for habits. I love reading back through them and seeing how God has answered prayers. And I love looking back through them and seeing how I have matured in my relationship with God, and how my faith has deepened over time.

I love finishing a journal because I know I have in front of me a book full of conversations between God and I, and who knows, maybe one day someone will read through them and be challenged and inspired by my journey. I finished a journal early on in the Israel trip and spend a good few days hunting around Israel for a decent journal. I ended up with the Blue one up top. (I added a Starbucks sticker because I could never tell what was the front and what was the back!) Fortunately this time I don’t need to go hunting. Brian Luse, who I worked with in my first year here in the States bought me a really nice brown leather journal about a year ago that I haven’t used yet. So, lucky me… I get to start a new chapter in my journey with God, reading back through the Old Testament having lived in it’s land, and starting a new journal as I embark on the final year of my degree at Multnomah.

So, I have started the reading for the Conflict Resolution class that I’m taking over the summer. I have been wanting to read this one for a while and so I was glad it was assigned for class, that way I have to make the time to read it.

I love ’simple’ books. There’s something wonderful about when people take Biblical truth and portray it in a way that makes it easy to understand and relevant. Gene Edwards does a great job in this book.

The book looks at three Kings, Saul, David, and Absolom, and is written as if we are angels watching David, hearing his thoughts and being allowed to enter in to the desires of his heart. It does it in two parts, by looking first at the relationship between David and Saul, when Saul is ruling the Israelites even though Samuel has anointed David to be the next king. As we look at these two people we see the characteristics of an authoritarian leader, and the godly attitude of submission God calls us to in this circumstance.

In the second part of the book, the writer moves on to the relationship between David and Absolom at the time when David is ruling and Absolom is rebelling. In this circumstance we see in David a God-following leader who is willing to relinquish his own will for God’s, and we see Absolom causing division lower in the ranks.

As a result we get to ponder our lives in 4 roles: are we a bad leader, good follower, good leader or bad follower!

My favourite aspect of the book is how it allows us to see deeper into David’s character. Gene Edwards enters into David’s brokenness, letting us see how God used David’s circumstances to instill in him such a deep and profound faith:

At night, when all the sheep lay sleeping and he sat staring at the dying fire, he would strum upon his harp and break into quiet song. He sang the ancient hymns of his forefathers’ faith. While he sang he wept, and while weeping he often broke out in abandoned praise - until mountains in distant places lifted up his praise and tears and passed them on to higher mountains until they eventually reached the ears of God. (p4)

He wove the day’s saga into a song. He hurled that hymn to the skies again and again until he had taught the melody and words to every angel that had ears. (p5)

It paints such an incredible picture of how God uses hardships in our life to draw us to Himself. It shows the amazing strength of character in David, and challenges us to trust that God is in control, and that His will is far better than our will! God calls us into roles because there are lessons we need to learn from the people over us and under us, and he puts us in those same roles because there are things that we can teach to those over us and under us. It’s not up to us to judge the people around us, it is our job to fix our eyes on God, to do our work as if we’re working for God, and to trust that He is in control of all that is going on around us.

So I’ve just finished reading Deadly Viper Character Assassins which was written by Jud Wilhite (Pastor of Central Christian Church in CA) and Mike Foster (who founded XXXchurch). Mike spoke at our church Men’s Retreat back in April. One of the men in our church has been so impacted by the book that he footed the bill to buy all the men who attended the retreat a copy of the book. I didn’t want to fly through it so I waited a while to read it when it would have more of a chance to sink in… and it did!

The book is about character and integrity, looking at 7 areas of character where leaders often trip up. It is a short book and easy to read, but that makes it a very quotable book. On every page there are succinct sentences jam-packed with good things to digest and live buy.

The book is about more than calling people out on these issues of character, it is about the importance of openness and transparency in godly men and women. The book exhorts us to find the one of two people in our lives who we can trust, and to open up to them about the areas where we struggle. It is about living a life of radical integrity where we do everything we can to steer clear of the assassins who are waiting to take us down, but it is also about radical grace where rather than condemning someone for taking a ‘misstep’, we love them and support them, helping them to get back on the right track. If you lead a team, it’s a great book to get and work through together!

Each chapter covers details of that particular Character Assassin and powerful stories of successes and failures in those areas. You also find some helpful steps and suggestions to guard against them!

These ninja experts are working twenty-five hours a day, eight days a week to undo you. (p11)

The 7 traits that the guys explore in the book are deadly in the lives of many. (After each one I’ll put my favourite quote from the chapter). They are: (more…)

So, on Tuesday I sat my last exam of my second year at Multnomah. It sure feels good to be done. It’s been a really busy semester with school, my amazing internship at Grace, and spending time talking about God with the amazing people I am surrounded by. It’s a strange feeling to know that I school is done and yet I have another 8 weeks before I head back to Scotland.

I’m staying here to lead the Young Adult ministry at Grace while Peter takes a team over to Israel for 3 weeks. I’ll be preaching while he’s gone which I’m excited about. Your prayers would be appreciated! In a couple of weeks I’m driving down to California for a few days with my buddy Joe. It’ll be a great time to rest up and recuperate from the semester.

I’m taking a summer class at Multnomah. The class is for five days (8am-4.30pm) and we have already received the syllabus with all the assignments. We have to do all the reading and some of the assignments before the class starts, we have the class, an exam at the end, and then a couple of projects due about a month after the class. I have some other work for school that I have to do over the summer to make sure I’m up to speed with Greek for the classes that I’m taking next semester!

The weekend after class we’re doing a camping trip with the Young Adult community, and then I’ll be jetting home to jump into fundraising! So, it’s going to be a busy summer this year, nevertheless I’m excited about it. I’m looking forward to having the extra time in my schedule to pour over Scripture and pour out my heart to God. As well as that, I have almost 20 books sitting on my bookshelf that I can’t wait to start reading!

Feel free to drop me a note to check up on me! I’m excited that I have more time to spend with God… help me make sure I’m doing it! For those of you in the States… I look forward to grabbing coffee over the next 8 weeks, and for those of you back at home… I look forward to seeing you in 8 weeks!

I have just finished reading a biography of Billy Sunday written by Lyle Dorsett.  I had read half of it for one of my class projects this semester, but kept it check out of the library so that I could finish it.  By his own confession, Dorsett takes a less enthusiastic approach to Billy Sunday than most biographers, trying to portray a historically accurate picture of Sunday and his contributions to American Christianity.

Billy Sunday was a country boy turned professional baseball player turned mass evangelist and was dear to the hearts of many Americans during his time.  At his apex he was preaching to the biggest crowds ever reached by an evangelists and saw many people commit their lives to Christ and clean up their lives.  There is no doubt that he was used mightily by God to impact many.

Like all the biographies I have read about men of faith there are huge lessons to be learned from Sunday both positively and negatively.  One of the keys to Billy’s success is said to be “his ability to take instruction from an able mentor and yet avoid becoming so imitative that his own personality and originality were lost in the process” (p54).  This is a flaw we see in both the secular and sacred world and is something ever emerging Christian leader has to work through.  We have to learn the lessons from the people around us without merely becoming replicas of them.

The test proves the real strength of a man, for no man is any stronger than he is at his weakest point. (p55)

This is a good quote to keep me humble!  We live in a world that teaches us to hide our weaknesses and flaunt our strengths.  Transparency is key to the Christian life.  When pride sneaks up on us it is good to reflect on our weaknesses and remember that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link! (more…)

Ok, I know I’m a bit behind the times with this one. I just watched Pay It Forward. I’ve wanted to see this movie since it came out way back in 2000, and I’m glad I eventually got round to it! I decided to celebrate being done with the semester by taking the day to read my Bible and watch a movie. I see God’s hand in the 8-year wait to watch this. This movie contains so many of the themes that God has been teaching me over the last year and I guess it wouldn’t have had the same impact on me if I’d seen it way back when.

The premise of the movie is that you do a favour that really helps someone, and rather than having them pay it back to you, you get them to pay it forward to three people. The key however, is that the favour can’t be easy… it has to be something that costs you, something that is hard for you to do!

Several things impacted me as I watched:

• The movie really shows the result of costly love. Relationships take time, energy, commitment… and sacrifice! To love well, we have to give up things we want. Do you live selfishly? Or do you live spending yourself in loving people? God sacrificed more than I will ever be able to when he gave His Son. He asks us to Pay It Forward asking us to love others in return for His incredible gift!
• It is interesting the people who are targeted: a homeless man who has been brought low by his drug habit; a mother who has been the victim of an abusive husband; a criminal; a child who has grown up in a loveless home; a victim of bullying; a suicidal woman; an alcoholic mother. So many broken people are represented in this movie. I love the innocence of Trevor as he invites a homeless man into his house helping him to get on his feet for a time. Jesus came to the broken, the oppressed, the downtrodden. He socialized with the social rejects… He touched the untouchable… He loved the unloveable. No matter how much we have it together, we all have areas of brokenness in our lives. We all need to experience spontaneous acts of love!
• Love is dangerous! Jesus never said “follow me for a safe and happy life”. He told us to love people, and prepared us to “take up our cross and follow him”. Often we relegate this to allowing our selfish desires to be killed off, but it’s more than that. It’s about dangerous love. Now, by that I don’t mean stupid love. But a love that steps out of the boundaries of comfort and safety to love those who need it most. Imitating Jesus to the max could mean my life finishes hanging nailed to a tree. Oh Lord I want to love dangerously for you!
  
• Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite in their book Deadly Viper Character Assassins talk about Radical Grace. Jesus calls us to forgive others for what they do. In the movie, forgiveness is seen to be a huge aspect of loving others - Whether it’s restoring broken relationships by forgiving someone who has hurt you; being merciful when people make mistakes and instead of condemning them you help them to get back on their feet; or even simply believing that someone can change.
• As hippy as this may sound, love can change the world! This is exactly what God intended. If everyone loved, we wouldn’t have locks on our doors, we wouldn’t have starving people in the world, we wouldn’t need jails, people wouldn’t be homeless. So many of the issues in the world today could be solved if we gave up on our selfishness and looked for ways to serve the needs of those around us. God’s love for me changed my life. The love of people around me has changed me. How many lives could you change if you chose to live a life of love?

I’ll finish with a quote from the movie.  I hope I never become this kind of person, but instead live a life of radical love:

I guess it’s hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they’re bad - to change. ‘Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses.

The time has come! I’m only allowed to drive on my UK license for a limited amount of time and it’s almost up. So, today I went and sat my driving test. It was rather strange being tested when I already know how to drive! Fortunately, I passed, so I now have my very own Oregon Drivers License. Well… I’ve got the little paper one until the real one arrives.

I wanted to make sure I had it before the summer arrived. I’m going to be driving down to California with my friend Joe and spending 4 or 5 few days in the San Fransisco Bay area (which I’ve heard is beautiful) resting up after a busy semester! It’s a long drive and so we’re gonna be sharing the driving.  I’m looking forward to it!!!

This semester I took a Spiritual Formation class called “Prayer”. One of our assignments:

This paper is to reflect a synthesis of what you personally learned about prayer from the classroom lectures, the reading, the retreat and the doing of your prayer project. Include your intended prayer commitments for the future”

And so because I have a huge conviction that prayer is a vital aspect of ministry, I decided to post my paper. Feels weird!
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Prayer is a mystery! It is an amazing gift that God bestows upon His children allowing us to communicate with Him directly—I will never comprehend how or why this is the case! I enrolled in this Prayer class because I wanted to grow in both my knowledge and my ability in the area of prayer and God has taught me several lessons over the course of this semester that have allowed me to mature in my relationship with Him.

(more…)

I love the title of this book by Dallimore! It’s as new as I am - first published in 1984! It was new at the time though!

Spurgeon is an incredible man! He did an outstanding amount of minsitry over the course of his life, and like Whitefield (and many of the other great men of faith I have read about) served the Lord right up to the day they died. Oh how I long for this to be my story… that I would serve God will all my heart until He takes me home to Heaven.

When someone asked Spurgeon the secret of his success, he replied, “My people pray for me”. He meant not prayer in the usual formal and unexpectant manner but wrestling with God in living faith that He would answer. (p49)

This is the truth! God releases His power as His people pray. I can’t help but pose this as a challenge to all those who seek to lead a ministry… Do you have people praying… really praying for your ministry? And to those who don’t feel called to lead… Are you committed to wrestling in prayer for the people God has put in leadership? I acknowledge that any success I have in ministry comes from God. I pray that He would continue to inspire people to support me in the Spiritual Realm as they cry out to God that lives would be changed as I do the things He calls me to. (more…)

For my Church History class one of our assignments is a reading project where we’ve to read 850 pages of… you guessed it… church history. Amazingly, we’re allowed to read biographies and so true to my passions I grabbed a couple of biographies from the library which I’m working my way through. I have to say, yesterday didn’t feel like schoolwork! I arrived at the library at 9am and stayed there reading until I finished the book… The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evengelicalism by Harry S. Stout.

George Whitefield’s biography is on the unusual side for the biographies I’ve been reading of the Great Men of faith. It didn’t contain the usual elements that I have come to anticipate in the lives of these great men. In place of a fervent prayer life and passion for the Word of God, I read about a man who preached multiple times a day everyday for most of his life. The key to his success, aside from God moving in him, was in his Dramatic sermons in which his style was compared to the leading stage actors of his day.

However, in place of a deep relationship with the Lord was an egocentric drive for success, and a joy in exploiting any disagreements in the form of persecution.

I would be extremely blessed to have as great an impact on the lives of people for the sake of Christ, but O how I long that after my death people would remember me by a profound relationship with God and not for the skills I use or the ministries I work in. There is no question that this man was used by God to touch the lives of many and to heavily influence how Christianity would operate in the Western World.

I long to finish up life, like Whitefield, still going strong. He would not allow health or circumstances to waylay him from what he was called to do… He gave his life entirely to God… He even preached and exhorted from his death bed after another routine day of sharing God’s message with the world. Father, how much my heart yearns to live out my calling with such persistence.

One quote in particularly sent my mind racing. In it he comments on the stagnant state of the church: (more…)