23 September 2013

1degree off course.

The story is told about a jet being off course just a few degrees with tragic results....
And I quote... ( source, internet)
" In 1979 a large passenger jet with 257 people on board left New Zealand for a sightseeing flight to Antarctica and back. Unknown to the pilots, however, someone had modified the flight coordinates by a mere two degrees. This error placed the aircraft 28 miles (45 km) to the east of where the pilots assumed they were. As they approached Antarctica, the pilots descended to a lower altitude to give the passengers a better look at the landscape. Although both were experienced pilots, neither had made this particular flight before, and they had no way of knowing that the incorrect coordinates had placed them directly in the path of Mount Erebus, an active volcano that rises from the frozen landscape to a height of more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m).

As the pilots flew onward, the white of the snow and ice covering the volcano blended with the white of the clouds above, making it appear as though they were flying over flat ground. By the time the instruments sounded the warning that the ground was rising fast toward them, it was too late. The airplane crashed into the side of the volcano, killing everyone on board.
It was a terrible tragedy brought on by a minor error—a matter of only a few degrees. "
Now I know that not everything on the net is true, and I don't have time to check whether this is factual or not,It serves the purpose of this blog... And logically makes sense, that ...
If you were to travel a vast distance and be 1 degree off course all the way, the further you travelled then obviously the further you would be away from your desired destination.
I preached this last night at Ringwood... You can listen in at the Ringwood Salvos website link...
www.salvos.org.au/ringwood/
( choose podcast tab option)
But... Suffice to say, what do you do, when you realize you may be off course, not on the right track, heading in the wrong direction ?
What happens in a lot of our lives, and in churches everywhere, is that over time, we seem to waver in our purpose and direction... We seem to stray a little off course. And that can have catastrophic results over time.
Churches lose their way.
Christians start becoming self reliant.
Churches forget the original planted purpose.
Christians get distracted and divided.

We're all guilty.

Jesus said go into all the world, and over time we have stayed in our churches, getting comfortable with our human traditions.
We have guarded them, less anyone new come in and try to change us.
We have believed that the only way to worship God, is our way.
We have held up as a value, that which was only meant to be a tool ....to our God given purpose.
Someone once said to me...we must be careful to protect that which we have, otherwise the people outside of our church will take away our salvationism.
WHAT ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
If we don't have those new people coming in, we will have no Salvation Army anyway.
So...getting off course is easy, but tragically, hard to identify, and even harder to modify.
But if we don't, in our own lives, and in our churches then we are doomed to miss the intended target at our destination.
Just 1 degree off course in your life, and in our churches can have a horrible result. And sadly I think in many cases we already see the results of being off course for a long time now.
We justify our present condition, we defend our tradition, we get angry if it is challenged, and we even fire up if someone should even attempt to speak out against it.
But that doesn't change the course and the fact that we may be off course... The only way to fix or to tweak our navigation is to actually take some steps in the other direction and get back on course.
When people stop praying.
When people find reasons to not be in church.
When people think what we look like is more important than what we do.
When people want to guard the tradition.
When people stop reading their bible.
When people do these things it is choosing to go off course. It leads churches off course. And when churches start programming more than praying, when churches start getting so busy that there is no time left for anything new, when churches start celebrating and guarding the style of worship rather than the one we worship, then you can be sure that over time,that church will get off track, off course, and end up in a terrible dilemma.

So what do you do if you think you might be off course in your life and in your church ?

Turn around quickly.
Start doing some for the basics of the faith again.
Start opposites.
If you are not praying ? Then start praying.
If you look for excuses to not be in church, turn your attitude around.
If you have some habits that are killing you, find someone to walk with you and help you change your habits.

A final test for you( and me)...
Is your church growing ? Yes or no..
Are you growing spiritually ? Personally ? Yes or no.
Has your church seen better days ? Yes or no.
Have you seen better spiritual days ? Yes or no.

Everything we have done in our churches and lives up until now has given us the results we now see. If we want different results in our lives and in our churches, we must change the methods to change the results.
Get back on course.
Help your church get on course.
Pray and seek Gods heart for your circumstance.
And start the new journey, where Jesus is in charge and His purposes are more important than your preferences.

9 September 2013

How much does "Love" cost ?

Some who read this entry of my blog will dismiss me as weak and insipid or even wishy washy, maybe evenly unmanly. Don't care what you label me....
This past few days has been horrendous in our family.
Julie is unwell.
Mel is unwell.
I have been unwell.
Chelsea is getting unwell.
And now Caddy is seriously unwell.
Caddy is our Labrador/Coolie pup. He was given to me for my birthday in March and he is just 8 months old.
He has meningitis, in his neck spine area and is in hospital having tests and treatments.
He is a special part of our family ....and we adore him.
So far the vets bills have reached $5000 and we have agonized over what to do..... Spend our hard earned savings, or have caddy put to sleep ?
When you love someone, like we love Caddy.... Well its not an easy decision.
We have paid the money and we now wait and see what will happen. Hopefully major improvements very quickly. Hopefully not, even worse news.
Nevertheless it got me thinking, what is the price of love ?
For Jesus it was everything, but what about for you and me...? And our pet dogs. ?
Some would say we were stupid....and maybe we were.... But what price ...love ?
When he greets you crying because you came home.... When that tail wags, because you are with him, when the ball is his toy for you and he to play together... And he always wants to play....and when he looks at you with those big brown eyes....and you just know he loves you...
What price love ?

What price do we put on life ?
Human or other ?
For me, I have a simple view of life... Its temporary, we have a better place awaiting us after earthly life,where there will be no disease or illness or pain or suffering or abandonment or loneliness or suffering or hard decisions like this one.
But when all is said and done, its not that hard a choice to try and  keep your friends and family alive, and Caddy is family to us. Priceless .
I love him and I must do all I can to help and heal my special little mate.

It makes one ponder what price we also place upon each others life ? And what we would do to help someone else stay alive and find real life?
Worth thinking about .

2 September 2013

Spring has Sprung

Spring is here... the birds are cherping, the trees are budding, the weather is warming and the nights are simply beautful, the heater is off.... and I even wore shorts on the weekend.

The smell of freshly cut grass adds  to the whole experience and there  seems to be a few more smiles around the place.

I am not sure I have noticed it as much as I am this year, perhaps its because we have trees at our place that have lost all their leaves and were left with nothing over winter. And now there are little green buds coming. 

Very awesome is our God.

God is amazing at how He renews the environment. How He created and designed it. How He provides for everything.

But what is more amazing to me is the way in which He renews people's lives. How He restores and cleanses and heals and revives.

How He speaks to us.
How He guides and guards us.
How He loves us, even with our warts and failures and weakness.

The other day I opened my bible and was reminded...

"You man of God, pursue righteousness....." ( 1 Timothy 6)

I got to thinking, if I am not pursuing Righteousness, what is it that I am pursuing ?  There is whole pile more to this little story and verse for my life and that travels back in time many years when  I was prophesyed over before I went into ministry, big days...big words....HUGE  God.

Pursue righteoeusness ? what does that even mean ? 

Pursue I understand....  it means..... what am I going for.... what am I trying to achieve ... what drives me...what motivates me...what compels me.... what I am chasing...


You might find yourself asking the same question and seeking clarity as what the true answer may  actually be for your life.

 
Righteousness.... what is that really ?

it is....
 
right wise ness
godliness
holiness
purity
gentleness
 



have a read of 1 timothy 6..... and there is recipe for success as a Christ follower... a recipe to hit the bulls eye....if you like.

Flee from...
Pursue that...
Fight the...
Take hold of....

I think God is amazing, that in the middle of a distracted, even perhaps dissappointed and maybe even defeated  life, He would beckon us once again back to the basics of our faith..    flee from that which distracts and defeats you, Pursue righteousness in all its forms of godliness, Fight the good fight (not the bad one) and take hold of this eternal life promised in and thorugh Jesus' name.  

Embrace your calling, dont run from it, win the battle of the mind, and the flesh, walk with and live for Jesus, who called us in the first place into His purposes and will, and  allow the newness of life to bud again in you and in us.

allow the season of .....Spring,  to spring in your spirit. 

dont let the baronness of winter, the desolation of the leaf less tree be your identity....know that new life can bud again and blossom and you will once again thrive like a tree of righteousness.


I have heard the voice of the Lord.
He called my name, and once again reminded me that there is something to pursue.
an achievable and obtainable goal.
a target to hit in His name.
I am not done with.
He hasnt finished with me just yet.,

there is still much to do, and I am up for it.

Spring has a habit of doing that within you if you will allow it. 

It's a beautiful day, and God is doing something beautiful in each of us these days.  
Just let it blossom in your life and bring glory to your creator God.




 























 





The Spiritual Experiences of my life. (Wondering about my Wandering) (It’s kind of Ripley’s…)

It’s always good to be reminded or to remember what God has done in your life. Recently, I hit a bit of a low spot in my life.  Things had c...