Have you spoken with God today?

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Location: Ireland

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

long time no blog

Today was a beautiful day, a glorious day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing...well metaphorically at least. I'm sure they were literally singing too but, unfortunately, the traffic was singing louder. People should cycle! It's such a great feeling to be bombing along, overtaking stationary cars while listening to Space Oddity or such like on d'i-pod. Better Together (Jack Johnson) is also a great sunny morning cycling choon.
There was a nice crowd of shiny new international students at CU last night which is really cool. So many new names to remember though. The preaching this semester is mainly going to be on purity which I'm really looking forward to. Sam spoke really well on the authority of the Bible. His understanding and knowledge of the Bible is admirable; as is his ability to deliver this.
I think the main theme of my day today was vast contrast of mood...not mine but the people I was interacting with. I was just really happy to be alive and wanted to sweep everyone up in this joy and make other people happy. I think a lot of people were willing to be swept but there was one who was just on an off day and didn't want any of it. I don't mean it to sound like everyone should revolve around me but I just found it challenging how I should react. It was like driving a car and crashing into some ugly wall that somebody had built. Do you motor on and hope that you'll come through the other side unscathed, reducing the wall to rubble or do you turn off your engine, get out of the car and as lovingly and carefully as possible, take apart the wall brick by brick....although maybe not having the required blocklaying (or unlaying) skills to do the job....hmmm. I kind of took the get out of the car option (even though I really like driving) and tried to take the wall apart brick by brick. At first, I didn't know where to start. I just stood there looking at the wall and it seemed to be impenetrable. I tried to use intelligent methods of taking it apart-take it down the same way it was put up. Unfortunately, it was quite an intricate piece of work and the builder wouldn't tell me why the wall was there or how it was constructed. So, instead of focusing on the ugly wall, I decided to try to build a nice practical ring-road around the wall. I think I succeeded in this but it was fairly labour intensive. When I had it finished, the builder decided to only hop in for a couple of hundred yards and, just as I thought the wall was disappearing in the rear-view mirror, the builder hopped out and left me drive into the sunset myself.
Maybe it was somebody else who had built the wall earlier on in the day and not the 'builder' I had thought it was. Maybe my 'builder' was actually driving their car just like me and crashed into the wall and couldn't make it through to the other side. I suppose we have to be wary of where we build walls in our lives that could cause other people to crash. Ideally, we shouldn't be building any walls at all...but sometimes we can be so skilled at it, we have a wall built before we even notice it and we don't know how we put it up and we definitely don't know how to take it down. We need Jesus to point out the walls that we have built, we need Him to show us how to take them down and we need Him to help us to love others enough that we spend the time taking down their walls...and when they ask us why we spend our time doing this, we can tell them about Him who destroyed the most impenetrable wall that has ever existed.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Joint Colleges

Just back from Joint Colleges weekend in Wicklow which is a meeting of the CU's in the Republic of Ireland for prayer, preaching, worship etc. It really was a special weekend and an immensely enjoyable experience. Meeting peers who have Jesus at the centre of their lives is such a huge encouragement that I can't even begin to put it into words. It's just so great to have a couple of 'days off' from the world where we can regroup and refocus on God. Weekends like this seem to always be over before they're started and by the time Sunday evening comes and you're back home, you wonder was it all just a dream! It also helps me realise that I need to be continually sensitive to the Holy Spirit and the work that He wants to do in my life. I need to strive to never, ever deny Christ, not even in the 'smallest' way. At the end of the day, it is God working through us, not us working ourselves, so we need to be always aware of Him and where He is guiding us.
Jesus really was present among us this weekend. I could see Him in those I talked to, at times very vividly. There were some who I talked to who were really on fire for Him and if I came to the weekend feeling slightly put out, He has reignited me by bringing me into contact with these people. The awesome plan of God really struck me when I saw His children gathered in one voice to worship Him; all having travelled along totally different roads in their lives to be there and all crossing paths momentarily this weekend to get a tiny sample of what heaven will be like. And now that it's over and I/we go back to the 'normal' life of college for another while, I pray that I will not forget what God has thought me this weekend, that I will not forget the love that He has shown me through my brothers and sisters in Jesus.
Something that was more firmly established in my mind was the way in which I came to know my Lord Jesus: it was not in an 'Old Testament style dramatic' appearance, it was by others allowing themselves to be used by Jesus to reveal himself to me. (Which of course couldn't have been more dramatic!) I realise that this is why I have to be completely willing to allow Him to work through me: that those around me may see Him in me and be drawn to the light.
One point that was made over the weekend that really struck me was an answer to the question of 'How did sin enter the world?' It's a question that I've had great difficulty understanding but I think the following illustration made it much easier for my mind to grasp: (my apologies for my poor retelling)
-A light bulb creates the light, not the darkness
-It's when there is an absence of the light that darkness appears
-Love can only exist in the presence of choice
-God gave people choice
-People chose to push God (the light) away
-This created a void where God (the light) should be - sin (darkness)

I think that's enough typing for tonight.

Psalm 1
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stands in the path of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law he meditates day and night.