Simple Times

I writing this blog by Candle Light as we are awayin the caravanfor the weekend

My boys are in bed andits boiling hot, all i can hear is the odd mumble of people outsideand the cars on a distant road going past. Looking outside I can see lightning in the distance and a few other caravan lights on around the site.

Sometimes the simple things can be the most important, and time with my boys is so great that is pretty much the only time In life I feel blessed by God.

Sadly at the moment I dont share that time with anyone else, and its sad that these memoriesare ones only I will cherrish (although I hope the boys do too)

Its at these times I feel the need to be close to God. Its so hard being a single dadon weekends filled with couples and families.

Wehen I am away from home and with the boys I praythat this is not what God has planned. I hope he has so much more instore for me and will renew the family life I loved so much, and to share those memorys once more.

As the candle flickers I am reminded that God isnt complex, and asking so much from him may seem impossible yet is so simple for him.

Why come today?

So the football World Cup has been and gone and as we all well know Germany beat Argentina in the final by a goal in extra time.

It's was dubbed one of the best world cups for many years with surprises coming throughout. Firstly Spain, Italy, Portugal and England failed to make the 2nd round. Then a couple of lower teams did. Then some injuries and host nation Brazil lost 7-1 to Germany in the semi finals.

I think eventful is a better word than exciting, but I'm one that thiinks the real World Cup is next year as the Rugby world nations come together.

Wether your a football fan, rugby fan or not, there's no denying that these events attract billions of people from all over the world and apart from the odd few people, on the whole it seems to bring people and nations together.

In today's media drive world we can have up to the minuet news anytime we like. When a leader or royalty of a nation speaks we hear it and see it as it happens. Most impressively was way back in 1969 when man walked on the moon ( before my time I might add).

So if we talk about eternity and how many millions of years ago the planet was formed and that we have such a small window of opportunity which is 2 to 3 thousand years, why did Jesus come when he did? Why not wait till the sermon on the mount could have been live streamed or pay as you view miracles? The answer to that is one that I can only try to guess.

See Jesus mentioned the fact that he who sees and believes are blessed, but those who don't see yet believe are moe blessed.

Maybe God knew what was going on in this 21st century world with internet and SoCal media. Maybe the better plan was to come in a less populated time visiting a world that was simple and could be helped more.

Maybe today we are so fixated in the material life we would fail to see this man as we sit in front of the games machine, TV or computer. Maybe we wouldn't notice him as we drive round in our cars and stay in our cosy homes.

It would be sad to not recognise Jesus or to even see him there. It would be sad to think we wouldn't see Jesus because we are so wrapped up in soup operas, chat shows and games shows.

It would be sad to not see Jesus because we are watching sport, eating  take aways and meeting in bars and clubs.

Sadly even sadder all these things are already what we are doing, everyday. Not acknowledging Jesus, not giving hime time and not trusting him.

Always The Same

Well its been a while..... all I can say is when I don't seem to have any inspiration I just cant Blog. Anyway I guess Inspiration has come this week in the shape of a Christian stranger and an old friend.

I meet up with an old friend I had not seen for over 15 years. Straight away we started chatting about life and old times, people we know, and generally chilling out and having a laugh.

Then the next day I meet a guy who when I said I was a Christian he told me he was too, I cant say to much as I don't know this guy, but lets just say I believe God had a hand in us meeting.

This reminded me of the fact the bible tells us that God is the same today as he was years ago and will be the same forever. Just because we cant see it for ourselves doesn't mean he has forgotten us.

How many times have I heard "God? What god? Or "What has god ever done for me?". Well I for one have found myself saying that on more than one occasion. 

I've not blogged for ages and once again it's because I've been probably saying those statements recently. Infact just recently Its felt like God has ripped everything away. All the faith and hope I had was takes and lost in one foul swoop.

It's at this point  guessed the option was clear. Forget all of it and give up on life or dig in and hold on to the smallest of hope and put my trust in that guy that hasn't forgotten of swept you aside but has unbeknown by me been there to help keep you balanced as you walk on even the narrowest of edges.

Now I know a lot of non Christians read this and most that do seem to understand the reasoning behind the blog. However there are those that don't, there are those that mock it and those that see me as just nutty. But if your reading this, don't discount god when all goes bad, explore him and when you truly seek him you'll find him.

WWJD

WWJD stands for what would Jesus do. A few years ago I heard about this being a question that many Christians where challenged to ask the self at one of those big event, and sometimes I find myself asking that same question.

I was at work and a police officer came into the shop asking if we had a ladder, we didn't but as a nosey nieghbour I had to look out the window to see why they may have needed one. Hey it's not a normal request from a police officer.

Looking out I saw the lady across the road sitting at her door looking very stressed and upset. I know the ladie has a drinking problem and is always running into difficult situations due to her drinking. As I looked out I noticed one police officer was trying to calm the lady as she sat upset on her door step.

I know from the past this lady doesn't like the police to much and wondered if I should go and see if she was ok. Then I thought maybe I should just leave them all to it as was none of my business and not my problem. That's when I thought about WWJD.

So, what would Jesus have done? Well I guess from the story's of him in the bible he would have gone to talk to the lady. He would have gone and offered the lady compassion and shown here respect. So at that moment I walk over to the lady that was sitting on her door step with her head in hands and looking very upset.

Some might say I should have ignored it, after all it wasn't my job to lend her support. It wasn'ty place to go and help. But for some reason I did. And I found a very upset, stressed and scared neighbour in need of a hug and a police officer in need of one of the ladies stiff drinks.

Sure I could of ignored it and got on with my Dailey schedual but I think it was my place to lend a hand. I was there not as a copper in uniform or a person wanting to moan at her, I was just there as a nieghbour to calm the lady and to be a friend.

A bit in the bible says something along the linds of when we give to charity we give to God, when we help others we help god as we are his hands and feet.

What would Jesus do? What Jesus does is shown compassion. What Jesus does is lend a hand or offer a listening ear!

Not Inspired

So after a long break from the blog I finally decided to do one. It's not that I've not wanted to, but just been struggling to get inspired to find anything worth blogging about.

People questioning where my blogs have gone and messaging me to write another hasn't really brought me much inspiration either. I'm chuffed some people like reading the blog and nearly 35000 hits to date is something I'm amazed about, but not boasting about.

I guess I believe that god uses us in a way we can't start to understand and like I've said before this blog was never intended by me to get so many reader. I have been through the numbers driven thing and at one time blogging was to get more hits and my own self rather than Gods.

So this blog is just simply to say thanks for reading and I will welcome any prayers for the blog to continue in the right way if that is to be the plan.

I have a few ideas of some video blogs that I will try and do in the comming months but as I say Its important to me the blog is for the right reasons, hey I may even learn to spell.

Any ideas welcome.