Disconnected from Desire
WE HAVE MOVED .... UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS 23/10/2011
Add Comment BEGINNING, MIDDLE, BEGINNING? 05/09/2011
If there is one thing I can remember from my English lessons it is that whenever you write any piece of work you need to have a beginning, a middle and an end. But it is quite condemning to apply this principle to reality. Life is not the same as your Harry Potter and Dragon Tattoo novels. Why is it condemning? ... Because our lives are not like a standard novel, more like an adventure book where you chose the ending ... scrub that!! ... Where you can chose the path for your life .... where there is even the option for the story to never end. Jesus taught us that he is the light, the way and the life and if your adventure crosses into his then there is truly a second beginning. Because of Jesus there is no end anymore, your imperfections, your sin, illness have all been replaced by the love and grace he has to offer. He defeated 'the end' when he died on the cross for us; he spent 3 days in a place where we all hope we will never end up, many discounting completely. He made the unworthy worthy and each sinner a saint with an equal share of his inheritance. And the best thing is that it's not just about the beautiful exchange (I.e. the cross ), its so much more, its about living your live as if Jesus was living in you right now!! So maybe my English teacher was wrong, as the best book ever written, the book that has been translated into almost every language, the book that has sold the most copies of any book EVER, the book the people call the word of God! This self promoting book goes against my English teachers rule and has a beginning, middle and then a beginning! With a promise that those who follow the teachings of Jesus will also have this new beginning! Interested in a new beginning? Check out an Alpha Course near you, or if you live in Peterborough Kingsgate Community Church. A VOID LONDON 09/08/2011
So it is a sad time for England at the moment, in particular London. We have all woken up to images on TV and the Internet of communities and livelihoods being ripped apart. All this is being carried out by what are essentially terrorists living within the communities they are attacking. Although there are thousands of people participating in this activity, the majority of those involved in the looting and terror are lost, they have succumbed to peer pressure and chosen to follow the mob. They are searching for a thing that is going to give them a momentary joy, a quick fix but nothing substantial enough to keep them going long term. Don't get me wrong ... what they are doing is criminal, but these people have nothing else they can do to fill the void they in their lives, they feel abandoned, unloved and that the whole World is against them. So they are temporally filling this void with terror ... unfortunately it is innocent people and independent businesses that are on the receiving end of this terror. As I prayed this morning I felt God prompting that if Jesus was walking this planet right now, He would not be with the people who are stable, in a job with prospects and those with a vision... NO, He would be among the communities where those that are rioting are from, showing them the one thing they are missing ... Love. He would be among them healing their hurt (both physical and emotional), showing them parental love (where many would not have experienced anything like it before). He would be telling people that they are forgiven and to turn away from the terror that they have been creating within their own communities, restoring them through the power of Gods Love ... giving people hope of a future and in return turn fill their void. But the craziest thing ... is that after he completes the work in those communities he would set about doing the same for the rest of us … after all it is very easy to put sin into levels of degree, when it all has the same consequence in the eyes of God ... and believe me we have all sinned. So on a day when the top thing to trend on Twitter is #prayforlondon, let us do just this; remembering that Jesus is alive today and will do amazing things. As I write this I have seen the #riotwombles tweets appearing, where communities are pulling together to clear up the aftermath from this evil. A sense of community where new friendships will be made as people speak to their neighbours for the first time, whilst coming together for a common cause. Gods glory sometimes shines through in the most unexpected ways, but it is these occasions he uses us, Christians or not, as pawns, bishops and knights accordingly to become real life angels in the lives of other. After all Daniel 12:3 says '...and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.'  THE DIVINE TAPESTRY 26/06/2011
So I was driving back from work the other evening … it was at a different location to my usual site and so had spent 5 hours in the car that day … when all of a sudden I hit a load of slow moving traffic!! And when I say slow moving traffic I mean traffic that was moving so slowly I wondered whether it may have been quicker to park the car and then walk home!! Well ... like the 10 cars in front of me I just sat there trundling along at 38mph, when I suddenly noticed some guy in a BMW tearing down the road, hurtling towards oncoming traffic … and you guessed it, he tried to overtake me, but had to cut me up. Naturally I flashed him, but then I thought to myself how different my reaction would have been a year and a bit ago, he would have got a few hand gestures, followed by some serious tailgating!! But now I let him go, I had changed. A couple of seconds later the BMW had shot off into oncoming traffic again, before slamming his brakes on again and cutting up the car in front of me. This was repeated for the next 10 minutes as he gradually disappeared from view. Then I started to think to myself about why I had changed my reaction … I had been taken on a journey by God! In fact before I was a Christian, before I had sinned, before I was born he had planned out my life … He had given me paths throughout my life that I could chose to accept or reject. And looking back, I realise I rejected a lot of the paths he had set before me, choosing to follow one of the flesh, paths that didn't give me real purpose, only temporary joy … satisfaction for a couple of weeks or moments, but never of any substantial duration. I thank God for all the people that have crossed my path throughout my life, my childhood and university friends that have become separated overtime due to life itself and for the new ones he has replaced them with. In fact I thank him for the people he parades in front of me everyday and for their influence, as it is through these people the Lord has shaped me into the person he wants me to be, often without me even acknowledging it! And then I think that these people also have stories, they will all have planned paths of their own with one common factor … God has put them together … and I bet as he works he occasionally takes a step back looking at his most Divine tapestry laying in front of him! And back to reality … I am at my junction on the parkway, as I go down the slip road I notice that I am now undertaking the guy in the BMW 318 who is stuck behind a lorry overtaking another lorry, so I smirk to myself and think ‘this Divine tapestry has Divine comedy built into it too!!’ MEASURED BY HAND FOR YOU 05/06/2011
So you may have noticed that I haven't updated my blog recently, well there is a good reason behind that .... I was on holiday in the wonderful Kefalonia! Kefalonia is a beautiful island with the most amazing scenery, the sea is an array of stunning shades of blue and the time we went meant that we were able to enjoy the spring flowers in bloom! It was so tranquil there, the locals were laid back and to be honest it is the first holiday I have been on where I completely relaxed. I reckon it was a glimpse of Heaven just for me!! When I was there the World was supposed to end according to Harold Camping. Well needless to say that did not happen and the Bible makes a couple of firm statements regarding these false prophets, Matt 7:15 and Mark 13:22 are a couple of examples. In fact according to Gods word (the Bible) it is very clear that no one other than He knows the date and time of the second coming (Rapture), Matt 24:36. The truth is a real Christian, a real follower of Jesus with a Biblical understanding of what will happen to the lost would not be scaremongering, rather they would he praying for extra time, pleading with God to allow time for their friends, family and loved ones to be saved. Moses did this when the children of Israel rebelled and decided to worship a God of material, Moses pleaded with God to give them another chance and as a result God relented and did not bring on the disaster he had threatened (Exodus 32:14). God is the Creator of everything and if you want a glimpse of what Heaven could look like have a look at the pictures of Kefalonia in the gallery below. Imagine that God measured out the mountains by hand, like we do at a beach pouring sand in heaps. He took his fist and pounded the shoreline to create convenient South facing beaches! And made the sea so that when the sun shines the most amazing blues are lit up. But this week I dare you to do one thing whenever you get the chance, whether you are walking to work, sitting out in the garden, on a holiday or surrounded by nature… remember that all this beauty was measured by hand for your enjoyment!! Enjoy!! Click here for Gallery  THE BRIDE TO BE ... 28/04/2011
So the UK has been swept away with everything to do with the Royal wedding, there are Union Jacks in the shop windows, the newspapers are preparing and speculating, two in three are having the day off, the pubs are restocked with the beer gardens prepared and the TV is having wedding stuff on continuous repeat! I am sure that will be many women out there interested in the wedding from a fairytale perspective, a prince marrying a princess with the whole World tuning into watch (unfortunately I am missing that trait, so cannot really romanticise about this anymore!). And how do I know this …. well through Disney, for when growing up they dream about marrying prince charming!! But guess what; we can all be royalty, we can all be heirs to the throne! In fact we can all be brides of the Lord Jesus. For there is a promise in the Bible that He treats His Church as a bride. It is a common misconception that Church is physical bricks and mortar, i.e. the place that people go to on a Sunday … the truth is the Church is really the unified body of believers; known to many as Christians (Eph 5:25-27)!! So whether you enjoy or avoid the wedding tomorrow, participate in the street parties, community events, watch from a distance or cover your head in tin foil and hide... we should all try and live by Ps. 118:24 and remember that ‘this is the day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it’. To a happy marriage between William and Katherine and the ongoing marriage between Jesus and his bride, the Church! So, just over a year ago I went to Church, for the first time... well for the first time out of my own choice … so it excludes the compulsory Christmas assemblies at secondary school and the times that I went at a very young age! It is fair to say that between the age of 14 till 28 I was completely unChurched and before that I was not going to Church out of choice, so for arguments sake lets make it a full 28 years. So what changed? What made me go to Church? … Well, I suppose it is all because of a number of things. The first as unlikely as it may sound was Chris Moyles talking up Church, a Church in Peterborough that he had seen doing a pentecostal service on Songs of Praise! A Radio 1 DJ was talking up Church!! Listen to the following if you you want!! The second thing was my boss at work offering to pray for my Father in Law, when he was suffering from a stroke … someone she had never met, but yet she was willing to pray for him? What was that all about I thought. Then there was the Wife!! She wanted me to go on an Alpha course and me being ‘always correct’ I was absolutely adamant that there was NO WAY I would go onto this course … I got quite cross about it and stormed off!! It could have ended there, and there and you would not be reading this!! When I stormed off, I recalled the Radio 1 thing Chris had done and so I looked up the Church … it was called Kingsgate Community Church and it didn’t look like the Church I knew … it looked different … it looked FUN!! So I agreed reluctantly that I would go and do the Alpha course ... on one condition, it would be at Kingsgate! Well, I went to Church there one Sunday (before the course started), and it was awkward, but also exciting, I didn’t want to be there … but at the same time I did!! If that makes sense?!? A year on I am still going to that Church weekly and enjoy it a lot! It is fun, has over 1200 people going and strangely modern, yet I can find connection with all the promises!! It was my own choice to go … I made that decision, I grew some b*lls and went, it wasn’t easy at first but looking back I made the right choice!! So it’s coming up to Easter and you could pop along to Kingsgate and one of the guest services … go on, I dare you! So pop along if you can make it, give me a shout and maybe I can meet up with you or go with you. It is in Peterborugh (UK).. So consider this an invite to my Church, I came here a year ago and it healed all my hurt. Details in YouTube video below; A GOOD BLUEPRINT 31/03/2011
Have you ever seen someone going through a bin or a skip, a lot of us avoid people doing this like we would the plague, we often feel uncomfortable and look upon it as socially unacceptable ... But have you every taken a second glance?… is it useless objects they are taking? No, of course not, they take only the things that have value, maybe not monetary value, but a value to them as individuals. This rubbish they collect are the good bits from the past. Imagine if these people didn’t pick out the good bits, instead they took the whole thing. They would end up heavily burdened with stuff that has no use! In fact they would use more energy trying to support rubbish, any good would become lost. So where does this link into my Faith? Well, in life we also have a past! Plus, because we are human like the contents of a bin or skip not everything is good, there is also bad stuff … Sin. Being a Christian one of the hardest things I have had to do is to disregard the bad stuff from my past, recognising that I don’t need it when walking into the blueprint God has drawn up for me. The craziest thing is that it is not always our actions that have hindered our progression with God, it can also be negative experiences influencing our characters. I am sure many of you can relate to having a bad employer, been bullied during childhood, rejected for career moves / jobs, failed relationships, etc, etc, etc …. Essentially these bad experiences have shaped who we have become. So how do we get out of this rut? Well, we need to turn into that scavenger, we need to look at our past and take only the good bits with us. We need to use the Cross Jesus gracefully gave us to lay the bad bits in front of. Remember, there is nothing he can’t take on, his stripes were for all our Sin (past, present and future), so leave all that baggage, repenting for it at the same time. Then walk away from the Cross without any fear, content in the knowledge that there is someone amazing on you side! We should learn from our mistakes and any bad experiences, so that we don’t slip the same way in the future. We should repent and leave the bad stuff behind us, only taking the good... for only this good will appear on the blueprint God has for us.  FREERANGE HUMANS 17/03/2011
So a year ago last Saturday I took a step, well it was more a giant leap ... I turned my life to Jesus ... without a doubt it was the biggest achievement of my life, whilst at the same time it was also the scariest! I had to put my faith in someone that I had only heard about, someone I had only been taught about, someone so many people said loved them, someone people around me knew ... but yet it was someone I didn’t know!! So why was it scary? I had to put my trust in someone other than me! Well needless to say I stepped forward putting my trust in Jesus. So I prayed the prayer of salvation and boy, did something happen. In an instant I felt like I was choking on happiness, I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time! When I had prayed that prayer Jesus knew exactly what to do ... he had hugged me! The most warming sensation had come across me, a bit like the hug creature from the Cup-a-soup advert! From that moment I can truly say that I know him, people couldn't tell me otherwise as I have my own testimony and all the theories in the World cannot break that! So a year on a lot has changed in me, all anxiety has gone, I have become detached from my gadgets and there is now a purpose to my life. I can see His work in my life and I appreciate everything more. This coming Saturday at the Church I got saved in, the Alpha course is running again. So my prayers are with all those attending that they will be bold enough to take that leap, that their chains and strongholds will be broken and that they experience real freedom. So, to a weekend of fresh freerange Humans.  QUESTION 20 13/03/2011
So I filled out the census this week; and as I live in Britain and not Wales I was missing the text to one of the questions …. do I speak Welsh? Well no I don’t, but a lot of people were so concerned by this it made the National news … But then a couple of pages on I came to another stumbling block, question 20; What is your Religion? Well … one of the answers was Christian, so I selected that but should it be a religion? If you go to Dictionary.com the meaning for Religion is as follows; a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects But this does not describe the Christianity I know, neither does it describe the early Church, so why is it classed as Religion? Yeah don’t get me wrong, I have belief and Faith that Christ exists, but the practices? These rituals belong to the Old Testament, when Moses was about, I didn’t need them to get to know Jesus … I didn’t need to build an arc, I didn’t need to go a place of worship, I didn’t need to kneel, I didn’t need to cleanse myself before hand … all I had to do was ask. Can you imagine Jesus going to the fishermen Simon and Paul, He had chosen to become his Disciples and saying ‘Follow me, but you need to wear some special robes with tassels, carry an arc, be in a place of worship, kneel down and cleanse yourself, and preform ceremonial sacrifices for each day of the week’? I didn’t think so, bet those fishermen would have run a mile! Instead He just said “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” (Matthew 4:19 NIV). That was the only criteria, the two normal fishermen folk just had to follow him! Well 2000 years on this is all you need to do! You just need to follow him, no strange practices are required; You just need to follow Him!! Follow Him and You will automatically hunger for the rest, follow Him and You will thirst for the sharing of bread and wine, follow Him and You will feed on the word of God, follow Him and You will wear his clothes and carry out His actions, because You WANT to not because You HAVE to! Christianity is a state of mind. It is a lifestyle focused on leading a God-centered life. It is a decision to imitate and follow Christ. It is about developing an intimate and personal relationship with the Father. It is Freedom! So I don’t agree with Christianity being classified as a Religion, it cannot be put into a box like that, but due to the sheer size of the census, I ticked the box and moved on to the next question.... Less than a year ago that question would not have bothered me; back then I would have selected a different answer. | RICHARDWant to know a bit more about why this page is here?  BOOKMARK
|
RSS Feed