Lent26

 For some reason this week Facebook has seen fit to fill my timeline with magic eye pictures.  You know, those things which look like a square of random patterns and then as you de-focus your eyes you suddenly see everything in 3D and a picture emerges.   It usually takes me a little while to see the hidden picture but Im always transfixed when I do.  How does it happen?  I know it was first discovered by accident by some bloke looking at his computer screen saver.  But then how did that accidental happening turn into a sort of art form?  Its a bit mind boggling.  And eye boggling too. My thought for today, inspired by the magic eye pictures, is about vision.   Is it possible that things we have been looking at for ages in 2D might actually hold hidden secrets if we just knew how to look?  I remember some of the prophetic guys who used to come through our church back in the day talking about the unseen realm.  Every bit as...

  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.     But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.     For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt 6 :19-21 ) “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” Luke (12 18-21) I know the pension age keeps moving like a flag in the wind and we might all have to be working until we are 80 before...

 Isnt God just so kind? Over the last few years I have lost my Dad, my Mum and more recently my lovely step-mum.  My Mum was definitely not a Christian for most of her days.   My Dad and his wife went to church regularly but I never was able to quite fathom what Dad believed.  He liked liturgy, didnt have much time for sermons. I got the feeling that church for him was a cultural habit rather than anything living and active - but I couldn't be sure.   I didn't see much evidence of the fruit of the spirit in either parent - but I'm also aware that people looking at my life from the outside might not see much fruit either, so I opted not to judge and to leave in to Jesus to decide their ultimate eternal fate.   Dad died during covid.  I wasn't with him.  I spoke to him on the phone a few days before he died and I cant honestly remember if I asked him to promise me he would go with Jesus.  He was on a morphine pump at the end of h...

Short and sweet today.  I was in a shop the other day. In front of me was a trendy looking Dad and a girl of about 3.  I overheard this Dad... guess what? Girl... you love me? Dad ( laughing) yes I do love you but that wasnt what you had to guess.  Guess what? Girl... you love me Dad...yes of course I love you but theres something else... Girl... I love you? And the moral of the story is that whatever the question , the answer is always that we are loved.

  Then the  Lord  said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”  Gen 3:6 “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the  Lord  your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the  Lord , your healer.”  Ex ;15:26 That promise in Genesis that we should live till we are 120 is a bit scary isnt it?  Do you really fancy being that old?  Im not sure I do.   But I suppose if I could be a reasonably fit and healthy 120 yr old perhaps it would be OK.  If I lived that long it would mean that right now Im just about to reach middle age! I have two friends who have  93 year old fathers.  One was still going to the gym 3 times a week until very recently.  The other is still able to walk up his stairs and both are totally mentally s...

 I have no idea if my experience is 'normal' or not.  But Ive moved churches a few times in the past 25 years and each time Ive found it harder to make properly deep and meaningful friendships.   Maybe I was spoiled in my youth by having been blessed with a few ' soul mates'.  Those long lasting, tell-all, do-or-die, give you a kidney if you need one friendships are probably mostly made in our teens and twenties.  Dont get me wrong, Ive still got those precious soul mates in my life.  Its just that these days they are miles away and as busy as I am and they arent at the coffee bar at the end of a Sunday service ready to pray with me or chew over the issues of the day. As time has gone on my definition of church has shifted somewhat.  It used to be that my church consisted of those people who went to the same sunday service and housegroup as me.  Nowadays I know that my church consists not only of those people, but of a whole raft of other chr...