'It's like you were born again!

It's an odd reality that in life there are times when the only way to progress comes through finding the ability to stand still! So often we find ourselves talking about great advances made in some area or the other. Today the news has been filled with the news that a man whose spinal cord was severed has had it repaired and is walking and driving again. Darek Fidyka, speaking of his feelings towards the treatment he had received said, "When you can't feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it's like you were born again."

Darek's words struck me because for many of us we can remember a time when we were living lives in which we were out of touch with our feelings, unable to control our bodies or regulate our thinking, and it was the coming into relationship with God, the Father, through the actions of Jesus, the Christ, that caused us also to be able to say, "We were helpless and were out of touch with ourselves and the surroundings around us until we met Jesus and, regaining our senses and right mind, it was like being born again!"

Today as we celebrate the first steps of a man for whom medicine has made so much difference I wonder how many of us can remember what it was like when were were were out of control and distant from God? Much more so I wonder how many of us have stopped to check that we're still in touch with 'all of ourselves' because I meet so many Christians who are obviously not living as believers in all departments; so many who limbs, brains and tongues most definitely function wrongly and over which they too apparently have no control!

My prayer is that those who claim to be 'Christian' (beginning with me) will take the time to see which part of their body, and their lives, they are out of touch with in terms of Christian living. How many of us are not standing tall, walking straight or thinking rightly because the connections between them and God - their intentions and realities - are severed or severely limited?

I leave us all with the words of Paul (Romans 7) where he says:

Now, which finger do you choose to use?

"I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."
As we celebrate medical advances I pray that we will, by examining ourselves, make advances in our own lives and the way that we have control of our whole body and mind.

Pax

Amnesty Internation and Gaza

A challenging image and a testing question - especially for us as Christians as we seek to bless Israel and yet stand with the words of Micah, Leviticus and many other places calling upon us to live with humility seeking justice with mercy and loving our neighbours too!

I understand the rockets and am appalled at the lack of proportionality from Israel (and the proximity of civilians where due to space the 'human shield' challenge is often circumstantial rather than purely designed in hypocrisy) and wonder which is the chicken and which is the egg.

A challenge for prayer and reason for us all methinks:

ISIS expel Christians from monastery

Reports are coming in that Islamist militants have seized the ancient 'mar behnam' monastery near Mosul and expelled the monks - allowing them to leave with nothing other than the clothes on their backs!

The monastery, dating back to the 4th Century, is an important Christian sacred space and a place of pilgrimage.

This expulsion shows the intolerance of the militants and demands some action from those who seek tolerance and peace as Mosul becomes a place where no Christians are to be found.

 Please pray - write to your MP and demand that our nation speaks up for those so sorely oppressed and threatened by the cancer that surely is ISIS.

When wanting to be 'me' is compelling

Am I the only person out there who struggles with the old nature? Do you hear the words of a parent or other influential person, even though they might no longer be with us, cheer you on to even scores and 'get them before they get you'?

So often I tell young men and women that, even when they have decided they don't want to be theists there are two sound principles by which living, if they are accepted and embraced, is made wholesome and just.

The first of these is to be found in Matt 7.12//Lk 6.31: 'Do to others as you would have them do to you'.

The second of these is concerned with the way we judge others and again we turn to Matt 7.1//Lk6.37 where we find what becomes:

'Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged... Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.'

It is so easy to retreat back into the old nature when feeling threatened. So simple to justify yourself with the, 'Well they started it!' approach to judging behaviour. The reality is that when the going gets tough the weak get judging and lashing out and demanding and ...

Well I'm sure you know what I mean.

So here's a tip from a Bloke by the name of Paul from Romans 12.2:

'Don't copy the way the world lives but let God change you into someone new person by changing the way you think. If you do this then you will find you know the way God has planned for you to be and you'll find it is pleasing, fulfilling, good and perfect. So what are you waiting for?'

Well?