A Journey Back To Innocence

Intention - a thing intended; an aim or plan. One synonym is Hope. An opposite of intention is discouragement. And interestingly in medical terms it means a form of healing. Time to set the direction for 2021. Get closer to God. Get in shape. Read more. Write more. No clothes or shoes shopping for 12 months.* Choose positive movement to be positively moved.  Do not succumb to temptation or dishonest actors. *excluding necessary fitness/football items. Also excluding the Yeezy x GAP collection.  Wishing you a Happy New Year. Whatever your resolutions may be, I pray for Wisdom and Discernment in (y)our lives. Trust in God. For I know the plans  I have for you,” declares the  Lord , “plans to prosper  you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

  Faith is visualizing the future in the present—it means seeing the future in advance. People say, “ Seeing is believing .” God says the exact opposite: “ Believing is seeing .” Some things you’ll never see unless you believe them first. - Rick Warren I've discovered as a parent that I really don't know nearly as much as I thought I did. At times my children ask me what something means and though I might profess to knowing what it means (more to myself than them), my inability to explain what it means would suggest otherwise. It reminds me of the song Knowledge by Operation Ivy and it ends with - All I know is that I don't know All I know is that I don't know nothing All I know is that I don't know All I know is that I don't know nothing And that's fine. And as a Christian that really is fine. We may not know all the answers, but we do know who does. Still,  I think it is safe to say none of us knew what was in store not just personally but for the World in

  "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:7   My wonderful mother-in-law informed me that it was a year ago today we had our first talk about 'spiritual things'. I can't remember what was said in the hour long chat, but I do remember the reasons I went to her to have the initial discussion.  So it's a year later and I am so very far from that situation having been blessed in so many ways. Due to restrictions caused by Covid-19 I am yet to be baptised, however I am proud to say I have become a member of the PCC  and am eager to serve the church and community. I do still find myself distracted by Worldly things and susceptible to old behaviours, however I do recognise this and am working on it in my daily life. In the course of the year many of the sermons I've watched, and songs I've listened to not only resonated with me but often felt directly aimed at me. One of those (and believe me I could have chosen many!) is Best Friend

  When asked if I’d like to take part in this series I of course said yes! Full disclosure I had no prior knowledge of the Psalms, and so chose the penultimate Psalm of the series, for a couple reasons. One, the beard and two because it gave me plenty of time to prepare. Or so I thought! Then I got an email reminding me of the date that my video would need to be submitted, however it mentioned a different Psalm and was far earlier than I had originally agreed! God stepped in and gave me an opportunity to share a word I could relate to in my life, and in doing so gives me a chance to hear from someone better suited to preach on the Psalm I originally chose. When the time came to record the video I did what I was pretty happy with and submitted it only to learn I'd not followed the guidelines and it would need to be redone. I was really focused on Hope within the Psalm but wound up getting a word from God that this was about the work he's done in the Waiting in my life. The res

“ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;  I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. ” Jeremiah 1:5 NIV As I walk this road of faith I'm finding out more about the person God created me to be.  One thing I've discovered is I'm really passionate about people. This comes as a surprise as something I've always said is I don't like people. It became a thing so that even whenever we went somewhere as a family like camping we'd say we wouldn't be getting to know people. "We're just not social people."  I'm ashamed to say we said this out loud many times, particularly in front of the children and this is something I will work on reversing. Funny thing was we always made friends even if just for that brief experience. And we always enjoyed sharing those moments with them even if it wasn't going to continue into the future.  The truth was I didn't like me. I'm not sure I ever have.

Back in 1789 George Washington wrote the following in a letter - " Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes ." And before I wrote this I thought that must be where everyone knew the 'death and taxes' idiom from but it was written even before then in books by both Daniel Defoe (1726) and Christopher Bullock (1716). At least that's what Wikipedia says anyway.  Even after three hundred years you can find some truth to this often referenced quote in this World, however as followers of Christ we know of an even older and more important certainty.  God doesn't change.  As a new believer I find myself turned up to 11 spiritually speaking more often than not, but there are days I can't even get the dial turned on. These have usually occurred after a particularly good Life Group or service, or following a week as momentous to Chris

There's a song my Granny Joy used to play when I was a child and I was visiting her. I never felt the need to look it up (until now) but I never forgot it. As an adult I could reason the song was just the right mix of catchy and awful to stick in your mind almost forty years but I think it's something else.  The song was " Patience (Herbert the Snail) " and the chorus went like this -  “ Have patience, have patience. Don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry. Remember, remember, that God is patient too. And think about the times when others have to wait for you .” It's safe to assume my Granny actually played the whole album '' Music Machine: The Fruit Of The Spirit '' but I don't recall any of the other tracks on it. I've always known family have prayed for me. I've always known Jesus was there with me every step of the way but I let my shame control me. I think that's why when I gave my

Philippians 4:19 says " And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus ."  As we adjust to the new normal, however temporary this season may be, it's an opportunity to reset our priorities and change our perspective. I for one am very excited about the future.  Something that's been on my heart and mind is the idea that we've spent too long in the arms of Worldly abundance and bereft of God's promise of abundance. It's important to know what our needs are and how they are being met.  Paul is the best example of this change of perspective in Philippians 4:12-13 " I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength ." Something I'm practising is in all things praise the Lord. In this time

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"  I was posed a question by my Vicar earlier this week that led me to rethink the future of the blog.  "What about your writing a reflection on what this week has been teaching you?" Many times I considered using the blog to include more personal aspects of my life, but couldn't quite find the balance between entertainment and an intimate journal. Perhaps I'm in a better place to do this now.  Not that I consider my experiences as particularly extraordinary but there is certainly a story to tell and incorporating my spiritual journey feels right to me.  As ever I check the thesaurus when writing and as I was looking up synonyms for 'personal' seeing the below option made me smile.  As we are getting daily updates from Governments and Health Organisations about the Covid-19 situation I urge you to lean towards faith and not fear.