He is good.

"I will hope in Your name, for Your name is good." - Psalm 52. 9

"I will sing the Lord's praise for He has been good to me." - Psalm 13.6

So that we might cling to Him

"Christ did not come into the world so that we might comprehend Him, but so that we might cling to Him, so that we might let Him simply pull us into the tremendous story of the resurrection. He came so that we might simply let Him tell us in total incomprehensibility: You are dead - and yet you have risen! You are in the dark - and yet you are in the light. You are afraid - and yet you can rejoice. These totally incompatible things are side by side only a hair's breadth apart. Just like the two worlds, our world and God's world, they are side by side only a hair breadth apart.....

Our visible life with its joys and successes, with it's worries and trouble and its painful disobedience stands holy and innocent and perfect for Jesus Christ's sake in that hidden world of God before the eyes of the Almighty, today and tomorrow and forever. And no tear flows in vain and no sigh goes unheard; no pain is disparaged and no jubilation is lost. The visible world brutally and heartlessly and violently marches over all of that. But out of grace and mercy and great love, God gathers up our burning, blazing life... Our true life is hidden - but it is solidly grounded in eternity." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Walk with me

"I want Jesus to walk with me. I want Jesus to walk with me. All along my pilgrims journey, I want Jesus to walk with me. When i'm in trouble, walk with me. When i'm in trouble, walk with me. When my heart is almost breaking, I want Jesus to walk with me. Well in my trials, walk with me. In my trials, walk with me. When my head is bowed in sorrow, you know i want Jesus, i want Jesus, i want Jesus to walk with me." - Song lyrics by Eric Bibb

Forgotten Faces

The above images are by a street artist called Michael Aaron. He's a Christian and i like the stuff he does and the reasons behind it.

His Name

"All hail the Lamb, enthroned on high, His praise shall be our battle cry. He reigns victorious, forever glorious, His name is Jesus, He is the Lord." - Dave Bilbrough

I've been thinking recently about the significance of names - both our own names and the names of God. Psalm 9.10 says "those who know Your name put their trust in You." There is incredible trust & faith & hope & victory that arises simply out of knowing God in the light of His names. But more than that, i've been thinking about our own position in relation to this.

I noticed something remarkable recently. Rather than being labelled with our own name, the name that will be publicly on us, the name which others will see and will be written on our foreheads, is GOD'S name, not ours. Rev 22.4 says: "They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads." Or as the King James says "in their foreheads" - which suggests the name we dwell on, and is engraved right into us, is His. Rev 14.1 also says "on Mount Zion stood the Lamb and with Him 144,000, who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads." I honestly love this. I can't think of any other name that i would rather have written on me than the name of my God. It is a thousand times better than having my own name.

That's not to say we don't have our own names... we have names now - some with good meanings, some with bad meanings.... but ultimately God will give each of us a new name, that defines us much better than any name we're known by now. It says in Rev 2.17 "I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it." But what i love about this, is that it's private.

The name that is written on us, as a public statement of who we belong to, is God's. We are first and foremost known as His.. as His people, as His body.. as His. It's His name that matters not ours. It's who HE IS that matters, not us. I was packing this week, and labelled my boxes with my name... because they belonged to me, and that's all i wanted other people to know.. not all the details of what was in them, just who's they were. He is the One that matters.. and even the name on us will stand to point back to Him.. for His glory.. because it's all about Him.

But i guess, because He loves us, and because there is a depth of intimacy in the way He relates to us, He still gives us names too. He still has an affectionate way to refer to us. I'm happy to know He will give me a new name.. and i am happy that it's just between me and Him. I don't know why exactly though, but i just love the fact that it's HIS name that is written on me, not my own... but i love too that He still does rename me.

"No man can burn a label into flesh and make it stay, when heaven disagrees." - Calvin Miller

Overcoming

"Revelation 12:11—"They overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb, for they loved not their lives even unto death"—what does that say? You overcome the devil by the gospel, by believing you are covered by the blood. You overcame by applying and teaching and preaching the blood of Christ, and then by being so sacrificially dedicated to people's lives that you are willing to die rather than run away from a situation. When that happens, when martyrs covered by the blood loving people happens, Satan is defeated. I don't think in order to be seriously engaged in spiritual warfare (where you are freeing people from the powers of the evil one), you have to do exorcisms week in and week out. You have to be a faithful, loving, humble, and repenting teacher—a lover of people. Satan is a liar and therefore he will not abide truth. He is a murderer, and therefore he will not abide love. So if you are a truth-giver and a deep, self-sacrificing lover, you will win." - John Piper, taken from this article

On the palms of His hands..

"See, i have engraved you on the palms of my hands." - Isaiah 49.16

"I have graven thee." It does not say, "Thy name." The name is there, but that is not all: "I have graven thee." See the fulness of this! I have graven thy person, thine image, thy case, thy circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy weaknesses, thy wants, thy works; I have graven thee, everything about thee, all that concerns thee; I have put thee altogether there. Wilt thou ever say again that thy God hath forsaken thee when He has graven thee upon His own palms?" - Spurgeon

The Lord of sea and sky

"I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry; all who dwell in dark and sin my hand will save. I, who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall i send?

Here I am Lord. Is it I Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me; I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people's pain; I have wept for love of them - they turn away. I will break their hearts of stone, give them hearts for love alone; I will speak my word to them. Whom shall i send?

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me; I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame. I will set a feast for them - my hand will save. Finest bread I will provide till their hearts are satisfied; I will give my life to them. Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me; I will hold your people in my heart." - Daniel Schutte

My family has this song on a c.d. We used to listen to it when we were young and we always referred to this song as my little brother's song. I think it was his favourite one. But i like it as well. I like the lyrics. I like the hope that is portrayed in them; the promise that God hears His people's cry, that He will save those who are in the darkest places, that He feels their pain, that He notices the poorest and most feeble of all and that He will set a feast for them and satisfy them. I love it. And i think that the call to us, as His people, is a very real one. I want to always be in a place where i can say back 'here i am Lord'... but i guess as the last line of the song says, we can only say 'here i am', alongside 'if you lead me'... because we can't do any of this alone. We're not even meant to. We can only do it in and through Him and as and when He calls us.

Amazing grace...

"AMAZING GRACE, HOW SWEET THE SOUND, THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME.."

-John Newton

I realised that i would normally be reluctant to post a photo of one of my paper-cuts, but today i decided not to care. It's not that i think it's great or want to show it off, it's more that i simply don't mind what it looks like - i am a wretch, whether i can cut paper well or not doesn't even matter - the point is that still, despite everything, God saved a wretch like me. Who or what i am, or what i can or can't do seems almost irrelevant right now - what matters most is the beauty of God's grace... grace that saves me even if i have absolutely nothing i can offer back..... what matters is God, not us.... and i want to declare how truly beautiful He is and how marvelous His grace is.

The glory of God

"We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self. Indeed, what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on the speck called earth, standing in front of a mirror trying to find significance in his own self-image? It is a great sadness that this is the gospel of the modern world." - John Piper, via Mercies New

The pure diet..

When i was a child i was allergic to certain ingredients in food - mainly additives, e-numbers, colours, flavourings and monosodium glutamate. Basically food that was processed or had a lot of unnatural things added to it; it made me extremely hyperactive and aggressive and stopped me from sleeping. Quite simply, i had to be on a very natural, pure diet. Man-made foods with all their additives made me restless and sleepless.

Last week i went for 11 nights, with an average of only one hours sleep a night. It was awful and i felt like i was losing my mind. But somewhere in the midst of it i realised again how important our thought life is. I realised that in the same way that processed foods stopped me sleeping as a child, over-processing my thoughts stopped me sleeping now. As soon as i filled my mind with people's opinions, or my own ideas, and tried to over-analyse them, then i was restless and agitated and couldn't get any rest. My dear brother sat up with me nearly all night last Saturday and kept directing back to what the Bible said. And i discovered that feeding on pure food; the word of God, calmed me again. I've realised again how utterly essential it is to have a store of Biblical truth to fight with at all times and how important it is to just focus on the truth of what God says, when you can't understand anything else.

"I have esteemed the words of His mouth, more than my necessary food." - Job 23.12

"Blessed is the one.. who's delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a stream planted by streams of water, which yields it's fruit in season.." - Psalm 1

He is good.

"You have been good - You will be good to me." - Brian Doerkson

And i guess He can be nothing else. For He Himself IS goodness.

Wrinkles of the City

I did a post on the photographer JR once before, but i was just checking out his latest work again and came across his new series entitled 'Wrinkles of the City'. I like his work a lot. He makes giant size versions of his pictures then posts them around a city. The photos above were taking in Shanghai.

Exceedingly great and precious promises.

"Exceeding great and precious promises." - 2 Peter 1.4

I love that sentence. It is so true. The promises of God are exceedingly great and precious. I just read something by Spurgeon related to this, and it encouraged me. He says:

"My eye must not so much be fixed upon the greatness of the mercy - that may stagger me; as upon the greatness of the promiser - that will cheer me. My soul, it is God, even thy God, God that cannot lie, who speaks to thee... He is a God unchangeable. He has not altered the things which have gone out of His mouth, nor called back one single consolatory sentence. Nor doth He lack any power; it is the God that made the heaves and the earth who has spoken thus. Nor can He fail in wisdom as to the time when He will bestow the favours, for He knoweth when it is best and when better to withhold. Therefore, seeing that it is the word of a God so true, so immutable, so powerful, so wise, I will and must believe the promise."

I've been thinking again about how nearly everything comes down to deeply and intimately knowing the character of God - I mean really knowing God. You can hear as much as you want about how to live life, or what God promises, but the thing which makes the difference in any of it, the thing which makes it sweet to obey, the thing which gives you confidence in believing His word, is actually deeply and intimately knowing God Himself. The thing which enables you to wait for His promises to be fulfilled.... and to keep waiting.... and to keep waiting..... is knowing Him; knowing He is true to His word, but also knowing that even if He slayed you, even if you had to wait forever, He is still enough for you now. He is enough. I don't always live like He is enough, but deep down, i know it is true.

"He is altogether lovely." - Song of Songs 5.16

Release

My sister, Hannah, sent me an article she had written about the Chilean miners who have been trapped under ground for the last 2 months. She wrote it a few weeks ago, and today they are finally being rescued. It's moving to watch and i found my sister's article encouraging. Here is an extract:

'Images of this mining disaster remind me of a sermon by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, preached almost 70 years ago, called How a Prisoner Waits for His Release. In this message, Bonhoeffer used the analogy of miners trapped underground as a poignant image of our lives as humans, waiting for rescue and freedom:

“They are trapped deep in the earth, dark as night, cut off alone… here in the deepest depths of the lowest shaft, there is no hope. There remains only agony and waiting for death. And what if then, a light sound is heard, like a knocking, a hammer blow, a breaking of stone!… It is really about Advent that I am speaking. Those events are precisely what happens in the drawing near of God to humankind, the coming of deliverance, the arrival of Christ. ‘Stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’”

For those who are sick, lonely, or in prison, for the broken-hearted and the homeless, the words come like a glimmer of torch light in the distance, or star light over a stable in Bethlehem…“Not long now! Lift up your head! Don’t worry, your rescuer isn’t far away!”

To all who are burdened and weary from the weight of guilt, suffocating in the darkness of shame and unable to find a way out, the call comes. “There is a knock at the door. Don’t you hear it? It will guide you through all your rubble, the stoniness of your heart. That doesn’t happen quickly, but it comes. Christ breaks his way through to you, to your heart.”'

Stand and wait

"...God doth not need either man's work or his own gifts: who best bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. (...) They also serve who only stand and wait."

John Milton, On his Blindness

I read the above quote recently, via a friend of mine. I like it.

All my springs are in You.

'Singers and dancers alike say, "All my springs are in You."' - Psalm 87

I like this verse. I reckon it applies to more than just singers and dancers too. At least i want it to. I want all my springs to be in Him. All that flows from me to come from Him. Whether it's flowing into a song, or a dance, or some other creative thing... or whether it's just the simple things i say or do; I want all my springs to be in Him.

Standing on the rock.

I was talking to a friend today about how sometimes everything in life can seem misty and like you can't see the way ahead, but you have to remember that you are standing on the rock that is God. I was remembering a time in Sheffield, just before i was ill, when i went onto a hilltop which overlooked the city. It was really misty that day and you couldn't see anything much... there was a big rock which i went and stood on, and i felt God remind me that when things got misty in life just to remember i was standing on Him... and that the mist would pass. After i had this conversation today i came home and randomly came across this stream of photos by Randy P Martin. It encouraged me, because they basically illustrate the exact thing i was thinking about. I like the fact that the girl is standing on a rock in all of the photos, but not all of the photos are misty. In the last couple there is no mist and she is in a setting of flowing water. Anyway, i admit that i am quick to forget, as even this evening i was feeling a little disheartened and confused again, but i guess that's the exact reason why we need to remember that God is our rock at all times.

This town.

Worthing seemed so weary and tired today. I sat on a bus and watched the people on it and the people that we passed as i looked through the window. And i couldn't help but cry. The old chinese man to my left, with his ankle-swingers and crooked glasses, kept rubbing his eyes and his head drooped wearily. The lady at the front, in her red fleece, ran her fingers through her hair whilst letting out gentle sighs... her eyes had dark bags underneath, and her face had sadness written into every line. The man next to her, i've seen countless times before, he muttered to himself, closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep. Every now and then he'd open then again and look at me with the most piercing gaze. He was old. He was tired.

And the man that made me cry the most, was the one i saw through the scratched window pane. He was standing by the war memorial, reading the names. He had his hat clutched against his chest, as a sign of respect and honour, and in that moment i felt something of his heart. I realised again what loss the war caused... and what grief old men live with, because of the after-effects. Even as i returned home on the bus, and passed the war memorial again, i cried. There was no-one outside this time, the man had gone, but the way he had held his hat, and his expression lingered in my mind.

What i was left with, was an overwhelming sense of a weary town. And what struck me even more was a fear that all our hype and all our fancy meetings won't reach these kind of people much. They need something real.. they need a depth of love.. they need people to sit with them, to listen to them, to walk with them, to care for them, to be Jesus to them. An old lady sitting all alone in her home won't be changed much by the hyped up atmosphere of a Church meeting.. don't get me wrong, i want to see the Holy Spirit at work in Church meetings, i want to see people joyfully expressing their love for Jesus.. i know that He is the only One who can offer people real hope and meet their needs. He is the only One who can save their souls and bring them peace and comfort enough to endure their loneliness and weariness. I know the difference it makes to experience the Holy Spirit and have Him as the strength you live through - i know we need this. We can't even love people without it coming from the love God gives us - we need to be filled with His spirit even for this.

I just worry sometimes that we might focus too much on experiences and long too much for manifestations of His spirit, and forget about the simple call He gives us to love one another, and the fruits of the Spirit.. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. I want to be filled with His Spirit more.. but not just so we have a good meeting, but so that i bare fruit and am truly empowered to go out and reach people.. so i'm empowered to love and care for them and be Jesus to them. I don't care about the experience for the sake of experience alone.

"If i have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, i am nothing." - 1 Cor 13

"He has told you, o man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you? to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" - Micah 6.8

God is here

“Coming close, close enough to feel her pain, remember the words of another one suffering, God is here. Coming close, closer this time, if you wanna see Jesus look into her eyes; look into her eyes. God is here. See the city where she lives in this dirty place, see the beggars and the whores and the homeless faces, God is here. See the children who are sleeping and the woman who is drunk and the man with the sign that says he’s down on his luck. See the man with the sign give another his blanket; if you didn’t look close you wouldn’t think it, but God lives here. Come in close, closer this time; the miracle of laughter, the miracle of life, God is here. Here in the places we call hopeless, you call out your kingdom and you call it beautiful. Here out of the ashes you build cities of hope; cities of hope. He says “this is my home and these are my children, you wanna see me, you gotta see them”. God is here. He says “this is my home and these are my children, you wanna see me, you gotta see them.” - Song lyrics by Kate Hurley

I will wait

"All the days of my struggle i will wait, until my change comes."

- Job 14:14

I don't remember ever having read this verse before, but i like it.

The thumb alone.

' I have a bookcase filled with surgical textbooks that describe operations people have devised for the injured hand: different ways to rearrange the tendons, muscles and joints, ways to replace sections of bones and mechanical joints - thousands of surgical procedures. But i know of no procedure that succeeds in improving a normal hand.... After operating on thousands of hands, I must agree with Isaac Newton, "In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existance." ' - Paul Brand

My soul clings to you..

"O God, you are my God, earnestly i seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So i have looked upon you in the sanctury, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you..... My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips... My soul clings to you; Your right hand upholds me." Psalm 63

I was thinking about this Psalm recently and am amazed by how it progresses and how different the second half is from the first. I'm so glad that neither half sounds alone, but that they are right there together. David wrote it in the wilderness and isn't afraid to declare the state of his thirst and weariness... yet He still chooses to praise God because of the truth of who God is and the truth of His love... and He clings to the promises He has.. that His soul will be satisfied.. completely and utterly satisfied. I don't know if David felt that satisfaction then or not, I don't know if he uttered those words through parched lips.. the fact that he says afterwards that his soul clings to God, suggests that maybe he was still feeling weak and still feeling thirsty, but was making that choice to cling to God and hope in Him nonetheless. Either way, i'm glad that it's written how it is.. I'm glad all the Psalms are written how they are.. that they don't shy away from the pain and agony of life, but they face it and acknowledge it and then offer hope...

A weight of future glory...

"God knows all this World's weight and burden and heaviness and if there were not a weight of future glory to counterpoise it, we should all sink into nothing." John Donne

"Our last day is our first day; our Saturday is our Sunday; our eve is our holy day; our sunsetting is our morning; the day of our death is the first day of our eternal life. The next day after that... comes that day that shall show me to myself. Here i never saw myself but in disguises; there, then, I shall see myself, but i shall see God too... Here i have one faculty enlightened, and another left in darkness; mine understanding sometimes cleared, my will at the same time perverted. There i shall be all light, no shadow upon me; my soul invested in the light of joy, and my body in the light of glory." - John Donne

"He began with prayers that the pain be removed; he ends with prayers that the pain be redeemed, that he be 'catechised by affliction'. Such redemption might take the form of miraculous cure - he still hoped so - but even if it did not, God could take a crude lump and through the refiner's fire of suffering make of it pure gold." - Philip Yancey on John Donne

Little Drifters...

I decided to make a couple of little drifters while i was by the sea this weekend. I was inspired by the Little Drifters project i read about on this website. Admittedly mine only floated for about a second each, but i put that down to the fact that it was exceptionally windy.. i could barely stay standing, let alone these little 'boats'! Anyway, i can't say i put much effort into them, but thought i'd post the photos none-the-less. I did get some pretty strange looks from passer-bys!

20 years ago today.

I got baptised 20 years ago today. When i was 7 years old. Some people might think that was too young, but i knew what i was doing and made the decision myself. I remember asking my Mum one night in the bathroom, and then i remember having to chat it through with my Church leader. He gave me an analogy to make sure i really understood what Jesus had done for me, and i cried my eyes out. My parents gave me a new Bible that day, and wrote this verse in the front of it:

"For I the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.' " - Isaiah 41:13

Quite an appropriate verse for me, seeing as i was always a little bit of an over-worrier as a child. Anyway, what i wanted to say was that God has been true to His word, and has faithfully helped me these last 20 years... and the 7 years before that too. I'm incredibly grateful for that, and am incredibly glad to be His.

On the Edge...

I came across the photography of Yan Seiler a while back. I love the way he captures people and gives you glimpses into the life of so many different cultures... especially people groups who are more on the edge of society. I wanted to post nearly all his photos on here, but instead i recommend you check out his website. His shots are powerfully emotive and compassionate... particularly his series 'The Outsiders', which shows people suffering from leprosy in India, and his series documenting the lives of those living in garbage dumps in Cambodia.

Photos:

1. Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia 2.Ouighour Tea Shop, China 3. At the Edge - Gypsies in Romania. 4. Dreams - Immigration from West Africa, The Gambia 5. Shepherd in Uzbekistan 6. Shepherd in Uzbekistan.