two worlds

if i stay here;
i cant stay here.
if i go there;
i cant go there.
a thousand different faces all expressed in one;
when the one should be the thousand.
i cant be everybody;
but i cannot choose.
a dance between worlds that can never be satisfied.
one prevails;
because two cannot co exist.
one dies;
the other survives.
does the survivor ever wonder,
ponder and think upon what would have been;
but if all things are worked together for the good,
did the other even exist?
if i stay here;
i cannot stay here.
if i go there;
i cannot go there.
a thousand different faces all expressed in one

Jesus standing in the gap

Attention: Where did that gap come from?
Application: Jesus the Great High Priest
Appeal: How does this affect OUR story?

Attention: Where did that gap come from?

Romans 3v23
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Genesis 3v22
The LORD said, "These people now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever."
So the LORD God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, where they would have to work the ground from which the man had been made.


-Go right back to Genesis 3 when Eve and then Adam fell into temptation in the Garden and sinned.
-Brought division among people-Caused fruitfulness to become less -Toil and strife in survival-God had to drive them out because if they were allowed to stay, they would be eternally trying to hide themselves.
-Imagine a relationship with someone you love so desperately, but the other was constantly hiding from you. God had to drive them out in order to bring them back.

What was the consequence of this for them? There was a gap
What is the consequence of that for us? There is a gap


Application: Jesus the Great High Priest

Leviticus 4 Atonement for sin

Atonement

Hebrew: כּפר kâphur (kaw-far)
To cover or cancel, appease, cleanse, forgive

Greek: καταλλαγή katallagē (kat-al-lag-ay)
Restoration to the divine favor

-God continues to raise up a people Israel

-There is still a gap between humans and God so He had to create something that can help close that gap which was animal sacrifice.

-The way was not a permanent solution. It was methodical and had appears to have no real relational meaning. It was a means of keeping God’s anger against sin away.

-Once a year a priest from the order of the Levites was appointed to go into the Holy of Holies to ‘atone’ for the people’s sin. He would present before God an offering to make up for all the wrong things done. The position was serious, and often, a bell on a rope would be attached to the leg of the priest, so that if anything happened he would be able to be dragged out by those that are left outside.

There was still a gap.

-Animals cannot close the gap between a Holy God and His beloved people.
-They were still presented by sinful people.

-Jesus was created by the Father to be our final atonement for sin. Hebrews calls Him our ‘Great High Priest’ who once and for all, was crucified and set before God as an offering on behalf of Jews, Gentiles and the entirety of humanity. He was the perfect sinless sacrifice.

-But there is another element to this. Jesus is not only just a ‘sacrifice’ He is also a Great High Priest who has gone through the things that we go through. Is a part of the Trinity. So God didn’t just create a human who was meaningless, He actually sent a part of Himself to die on behalf of us.

-Not only is the gap filled……..it was filled with His own being.

Hebrews 2v14 onwards
We are people of flesh and blood. That is why Jesus became one of us. He died to destroy the devil, who had power over death.
But he also died to rescue all of us who live each day in fear of dying.
Jesus clearly did not come to help angels, but he did come to help Abraham's descendants.
He had to be one of us, so that he could serve God as our merciful and faithful high priest and sacrifice himself for the forgiveness of our sins.
And now that Jesus has suffered and was tempted, he can help anyone else who is tempted.
(CEV)

The gap is closed.

Appeal: How does this affect How does this affect OUR story?

But it does not end here. Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice that meant more than just an animal dying.

He was flesh and blood for more than 30 years. He experienced all things that we experience:

Hebrews 4v15
Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin!
So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.

When we sin-we create a gap between us and God.

But we can bravely and boldly come before the throne of God because Jesus, the One who fills that gap for us, knows every single weakness and temptation that we go through, and He can ‘intercede’ or go between us and God, as if He was our representative, and ask God for our forgiveness.

We need to choose to accept that offer from Him. He didn’t just do it so we could go about our daily lives doing what we want.

The gap wasn’t filled so we could please ourselves.

It was so that we could come into right relationship with Him. TRINITY. The trinity can be complete when we accept the offer of His ‘sacrifice’ for our sins that cause that gap between us and God.

eternally his

Eternally His

This past month has been filled with anxiety and worry about the stupidest of things. And when I am finally free of the things to worry about, I worry about what to worry about next.

For those of you that know me, I am usually one of the more relaxed people, not worrying when something doesn’t work out or when something goes wrong, plans fail or something else comes up. I have usually been the first to think of a solution and try and work things out. I have always loved the verse ‘And God works for Good for all those that Love Him’. I have not really ever been concerned about future, moving continents, knowing in my heart of hearts that God has it all under control.

And then BAM. Worry floods me like the Fraser River will probably flood if we get any more of this horrid rain here in British Columbia.

Yahweh is incredible vast and rich. He runs on forever, never ending never getting shallow, never fading. He is forever deep and wide and high. Everything in this life is known by Him. All things miniscule are under His watchful eye that ‘never slumbers nor sleeps’. He knows all. He is aware of all things that move and have their being in this life and the next. My God is so much bigger than all the ‘light and momentary troubles of this life’. Nothing ever shocks Him, nothing ever ever ever throws Him off His course, He is never worried when I worry, He sees the solution, knows the problem and understands why and how I found myself there.

John 8v12 says ‘I am the Light of the World. Those who follow me shall never stumble in darkness have the light that leads to life’ Jesus never said ‘I am the Light of the world. Now you have me you will never have troubles because I have come to make it easy’. He says that He is the Light of the World. The reason why those of us who know Him and follow Him never ‘stumble in darkness’ is because we have a light. We have the Holy Spirit within us and guiding us. Have you noticed how the darkness changes when you awkwardly fumble around, still drunk with sleep at 2am in the morning, trying desperately to find that switch on the bedside lamp? The darkness suddenly changes. It doesn’t disappear, just like energy. It never disappears, it just changes to something else. Darkness never goes away, it changes with the light. That is why Psalm 23 says ‘Even though I walk through the Shadow of the valley of death’. A shadow is created when there is light.

Light and momentary troubles of this life will never end. We will never find solace in this life. There will always be something. But we have the Light to change our dark times.

And after all this we have another life. Eternity has already started for us that know Jesus. Already we are living out our eternity. We will just shift to another mode when we finally leave, whenever that will be for each of us.

So there is an eternal perspective for all of us. This is not it. This is not the be all and end all. And that somehow makes all things so much simpler. My life will not and shall not end here on earth.

Everything that I do for God’s Kingdom has an eternal consequence. And knowing this changes the importance of things in this life. If I slave away over something that really does not have a lot of meaning, what is its worth? If I spend 10 hours on trying to desperately achieve something that doesn’t help anyone, inspire anyone, bless God in anyway, then should I be spending copious amounts of time on it at all?

All truth that is spoken, I think, will echo eternally too. Jesus spoke truth always-no matter what He said, it was always truth and life. The kind words He spoke, the harsh words He spoke, they came from Heaven and ricochet into forever. Even though at this time, it is against the rules for us to speak the Gospel to kids in schools, it is never been banned to speak truth over them. Encouraging them, inspiring them, loving them inside and out, I believe, will make more of a difference than telling them something that I have memorised and repeat out.

If I love and love and love on them, they will see more of Jesus than my words can paint.

Jesus the Teacher

When I was younger, I had a really scary teacher called Ms Crook. She has always been old, even when I see her now, she is still old!! She still wears the same old fleece jumpers and has her hair in a bowl cut, wears the round glasses and walks the same. Obviously I’m not scared of her anymore (I promise!!) but I remember one time when I was little, she shouted at me for loosing my little fleece purse that I had spent so long making in class. That was the first time anyone had told me off at school (this is before the biting incident) so it pretty much scared the life out of me.

But from then on, I’ve had some pretty awesome teachers. Throughout primary and secondary school I have come across people who love their job, which consequently makes a massive difference on the students. I’ve had great history teachers, one being the lovely Mr Orr, (who all the girls liked) but I liked him because he let us watch a great movie called Dancing with Wolves in class so we could study the Sioux tribe. He also taught me about the Industrial Revolution and the Fire of London. Great! Then I had the veeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrryyyy scary Mr Jordan (cue thunderclap and scary theme tune), but he was incredible. He was so scary that he got my awful science class to shut up for an hour and actually do some work. And then Mr Clohossy, who I bought my amazing car off of, he got me from a E-Fail in math, to a B-C!! In one year!! (mostly because I fancied him…) and then finally, (there are many more) my incredible guitar teacher, Kelvin! He is a legend and we still spend time together jamming. Kelvin’s been playing guitar for 35 years and will be pulling these amazing riffs while having a full on conversation with you about something totally different. He is encouraging, inspiring and a great laugh.


Jesus is a great teacher. In fact He is the ultimate teacher.
Lets take a look at Mark 4v3-8

‘Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, great and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty or even a hundred times more.”

Jesus uses things that are familiar to the people who are listening. Kat told us last night that many of the people listening would have understood this because of their living as farmers.

I think that the people would not only have understood it, but been affected deeper because the way that Jesus relates His teaching to their environment. It would be like Him teaching us the parables by using stories of people in school or the office. Its not only easy to relate to because we are familiar with the surroundings in the story, but it expresses Jesus’ care for the people-the way that He wants people to learn well. Jesus understands how people work (He created us!!) and knows that we will respond to something we can imagine ourselves in.

So what do some of these things mean? Seed, sowing, sun, roots, scorching, random crows, soil……

We came up with these ideas last night:

The sowing of ‘seed’ is the spreading of God’s Word (which is an entity unto itself!) God’s Word for them would be totally different in those days….because the Bible wasn’t written yet!! Like Sarah said…..they wouldn’t just pop home and pick up their new PDA with the NIV on it, or they wouldn’t be able to get their Gideon’s from the nearest Best Western either! The ‘Word’ would have been God’s Laws, His love and redemption that was talked about from Isaiah, the talk of His Kingdom that Jesus spoke of so often, and the good teaching that Jesus was sharing. See, the Bible would have been passed down by word of mouth mostly, writing didn’t really happen just yet, not a lot anyways.

Jesus also talks about hearing in this section, later on in verse nine ‘He who has ears….let him hear!’

Anybody have ears around here?

Good - always a handy thing to have those.

So Jesus really means, anyone who is able to listen, then do!! He knew that what He had to say was important and fulfilling. He even repeats what He has to say to the disciples later on in verse 14 through to 20.
The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it and produce a crop, thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.

Now, if your Mum says something more than once, you know she means it. This doesn’t always apply to my Mum because she forgets that she has told me something, and sometimes tells me more than twice in a day!! If someone tells you that need to do something, and says it more than once, you know they really need you to do it. Or if a friend encourages you about something, more than once, you know it really blessed them somehow. God decided to put the Gospels in four times!! Jesus tells this parable more than once and is repeated in other gospels. So He means it. He knows that this stuff is the food for our souls.

We also looked at some of the meanings in this bit of the bible. What does it mean to have no root? What are the thorns? What is good soil?

So, the word goes out, people hear it. Some of it goes to people who don’t recognise Satan’s schemes in their life, so it gets stolen from them through temptation or persecution. Others hear it, and don’t really let it soak into their life, so when hard times come, they give up. Some people in this parable hear God’s word but let other worries in this life take over, they let wealth rise up and take God’s place. It says that these things ‘choke’ the good in our lives.

Like we were saying last night, some things in our life aren’t bad to have there. But they get bad when we let them take the place before God. So the desires of this life, like career, grades and relationships are all good, only if they stay underneath God’s place in your life. Letting God be first in our lives also helps to keep our focus’ right. And then some people hear God’s word and receive it, they let it soak into their entire lives and they produce a crop!!

But don’t worry. You won’t sprout crops. It means that if we let God’s word soak into us, it will come out again in our actions, in our way that we love others, in our words and in our conversations that we have with others.

So letting God’s good stuff permeate into all parts of our lives will produce a crop!! But how do we be good soil in the first place? How do we prepare ourselves?
Well. We make sure that all the stuff we let in our lives is good. The things we watch are monitored, the things we read don’t have place over our spiritual reading and our bible reading. Maybe for some of us that means the music we listen to, or the people we listen to. For some of us it may even mean whom we let ourselves be influenced by. It is going to be personal for each of us, but I encourage us to ask God what that is.

He will certainly tell you.

routine

I like routine. I like to know where I am going and when I am going to get there. I like to know dates and times and details, although I never appear to ask many questions. I like to know what time I get up, what I am wearing and what I will eat, in what order I will shower and brush my teeth in the morning. I like to have time to play music, to watch television and I like to know if my emails are checked or not.

Yet despite all this, I would like to think myself quite laid back. It doesn’t really bother me if details of my day change because I’ve gotten so used to having plans and then have them change, it is no longer a surprise to me. I’ve gotten used, or possibly even complacent with, the fact that my God can change what He likes and whenever He sees fit.

So why is it that I love routine, yet my days seem to continually be lost? How is it that time can slip past me and into oblivion, or wherever it is that time ends up at the end of its span, when I seem to have such a tight grasp of it? Consider it like this; holding sand. The tighter you close your fist around the grains, the quicker it slips away from you. Despite your desperate attempts to keep on to what you have your hand around, it falls away, through the gaps between your fingers and runs down to where it came. But hold out your hand, cup your palm and it sits there quite content until you decide to turn your wrist and pour it out again.

The longer I seem to plan my days, or events, or even weeks, the quicker they go. For the past two years I have lived from year to year planning what I will do the next. I started off this year with the thought of what I will do the next, always hoping to come to some sort of conclusion in my life, finally finding my ‘home’ or ‘calling’ when in fact, everything I need right here, right now, is right here and right now.

I spent my summer thinking about this year ahead of me, in the midst of many things half undone. My flight wasn’t paid for with real money, half the department were waiting on tender hooks, even in the final days right up until we left Texas for Canada, waiting for their Visas. In those days I lived from weekend to weekend, slipping slowly into the world’s mentality of ‘if I can just make it through this week’. It quite frankly wasted my time. I not only wasted good opportunities, but good weather, good memories to be had and a closer relationship with God. Each day I thought about how to make it to 4o clock, trying desperately to coax my mind to wander to pass the time-missing out on opportunities to share my life and faith with those around me in my office.

It’s interesting that we use the words ‘spent’ and ‘wasted’ when we mention time. We ‘discard’ our time, we ‘use’ our time to whatever means, we don’t just live in time, or use it to measure, not only are we in a spacio temporal frame, we live in a constant opportunity that offers us to use to its full extent, our free will. Every waking moment, and even sleeping ones, we have choices to make. Either we can use our time for ourselves, for both positive and negative outcomes, we also have a choice on whether or not to use it to make a difference, whether it be for the physical world, or for those that dwell in it.

So I organise my time, mostly subconsciously and probably so that I have some sort of control in my life that often seems to have little or none. I make sure that I shower daily, and I make sure that I eat. I make sure that my parents and I are in some sort of communication, I make sure that I check my emails, update my accounts, read my book, watch some movies, I make sure that I regularly have some practice with whatever I feel like playing that day, I make sure I’m with my friends, I make sure I keep in touch with those I love that are at home and yet, somehow, the grains that I perceive to be important stay in my palm, when those that are essential slip away.
Some questions have been surrounding me lately. Mostly asking the ‘why’ question and challenging me to re think my motives in my actions and beliefs. So maybe really, my time ‘wasted’ wasn’t really wasted at all? It does not link directly with my physical actions, rather the frame of my mind and the priorities of my thoughts. My lack of time management is caused by a stray and frayed mindset-one that is not thinking on the One that keeps me in perfect peace.

excuse me, but he loves you....

A friend of mine told me yesterday that she went up to a girl on the street and told her that Jesus loved her.

Firstly, I was struck by the boldness of someone, to just go up to an individual and speak to them a universal truth, that unfortunately does not come naturally to some [including me]. And then I thought about this some more and had a bit of a scare….

Why don’t more people come up to me on the street and tell me Jesus loves me? Do I repel others? Is it something I ate this morning? If this truth is so life changing, why am I not bombarded with strangers from all over the world, coming up to me and telling me the Good News? Why am I not bombarding strangers with it?

Jesus talks about the Sowing and Reaping principle.

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him. Matthew 12v35

What a man sows, he reaps. You plant apple seeds, you get apples [and get this-it doesn’t actually grow inside you if you eat an apple core….I really should tell my Mom to stop telling me that…..I don’t think she knows!]. You plant wheat, you get a harvest of wheat. So if I want more people to be talking about the Good News, does this mean I have to do it myself?

Talking to strangers doesn’t come exactly natural to me. In fact, it is probably the one thing that I try to avoid the most in any given situation. Now, you can’t exactly ignore the lady behind the counter at the Supermarket, because that would be extremely impolite-and if my Mum has taught me anything, it is to be polite, because ‘manners don’t cost you anything’. But you can easily ignore the lady that sits next to you on the bus by reading you book or turning your ipod up louder [this is my method]. I noticed once, when I lived in the North Shore, that almost everyone that takes the Sea Bus to downtown is always excruciatingly attached to an extremely good book. Or I will assume they were good books because no one ever looked up from one to stare at the stranger that was cramped unnaturally close to them, both opposite and in front.

And what gets me the most is that there are people who just love talking to others, and they don’t appear to have faith in Jesus at all. On my way to a posh mall in West Vancouver, I witnessed a conversation between two very recently met strangers on the bus. A girl around 16 was sitting listening to some sort of heavy punk music [I could hear it myself and was quite enjoying it] when a lady came in and sat herself right next to her; despite there being a numerous amount of empty seats elsewhere. They instantly got into a conversation and the woman even asked to listen to her headphones!! They exchanged names, job titles [one was a student, the other lady owned the Booster Juice shop on the North Shore] and taste in music. It was quite an experience just watching the whole scene. And I questioned myself. Why don’t I do that more often? It really does not take much to start a conversation surely?

So a few weeks later, I sat next to this dear old lady on the bus [after shopping again…] and said something like ‘gosh, isn’t it lovely weather?’ [Of course, a very natural topic to me, being British!] And we were off. We talked about skin care in the sun, the difference between the North Shore and Downtown, and she told me the history of her vacations, how she had travelled all around the world to go on different holidays. I told her why I was in Vancouver and we talked about all kinds of grownup things on our 20-minute bus ride back to 15th and Lonsdale.

I’d done it. I had officially broken my barrier in talking to strangers. Since then, I have found myself having all kinds of weird conversations with all sorts of people, talking about music, London [because apparently, according to most Canadians, that’s where everyone comes from in England] healing from God, I even spoke to a women who was, at the time, called Margaret, but wanted to change her name to Robert.

Jesus calls me to ‘go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them the commandments I have taught you.’ Matthew 28v16 onwards. I never realised that to tell people about Jesus I have to actually speak about Him.
I was inspired by Ali’s confession of Jesus to a girl on the street. I want to do that more. But my problem is…I have to actually talk to people…….!

hero

One of my fondest memories in elementary school in the UK is when a couple called Brian and Sue used to visit us on a regular basis to give assemblies and presentations . They weren’t particularly financially ‘rolling in it’ and nor would they have been deemed ‘professional’ by the professionals themselves. But the one element to them that I remember the most was their charisma, and their ability to get themselves etched into my memory, even as I enter my early twenties.

It was memories of wonderful people like that, that were 100% driven by a passion for what they wanted to do, that drove me to join a British youth and schools missions group that plants themselves into an area for a year or more, and works to connect the local school with the local church.

I’ve grown up always wanting to make a difference. It seems to be a part of my make up, and I remember as a kid, on a few occasions, taking friends and family down to my local duck pond to pick litter. And then as I grew older, I joined the school council, I got involved in as much as I could as a teen at high school, and then one summer, I suddenly found myself becoming a Christian and joining a local church in my home town.

Since then, I’ve found my passion for wanting to make a difference explode. Being a girl, I guess people expect you to play with dolls and talk about horses and boys. Which I did, no doubt (and continue to do….), but there was and still is, something inside of me that leapt and explodes into life when I watch Superman, X-Men, Spiderman or even a Bruce Lee movie. I love the idea of fighting for justice-being a warrior. I’m passionate about the concept of being a hero-and after a long time of thinking; I truly believe that it’s not for personal gain. I totally, 100% believe that it is just who I am. Whether you believe it or not, you are created for a purpose. Whether that is to head up a family, start a world changing business, start a city changing charity, or whatever. My purpose, I have discovered, is to work with people-to try and make a difference.

That’s why I moved to Vancouver with this charity. For a start, I wanted to see a new part of the world and then I realised the actuality of what I was embarking on when I first stepped into a school January of 2005. I met amazing children, wonderful and passionate Grade One students in a school downtown and all I did was make bead key chains with them as a helper in a lunch club. But it was incredible. Then as the year went on I was able to volunteer at a funded reading program where I worked with the same class twice a week helping with one-to-one reading. I was privileged to experience these beautiful six year olds grow in their ability to read. That was it I was totally pumped and fuelled and again, this year I have fallen in love with twenty incredible, mind blowing six year olds, who I have the joy of working with three mornings a week.

I know I’m doing it-I know that I am living the life that God has created for me, and it is so exciting.

I’d love to challenge you-find that thing that gets you totally fired up inside, it can be anything! And do it. Get out there and live the life you are called live -whether or not you believe in God.
You will be amazing.

apology

i just took a look through here and read my post 'boys'. i must admit, it was almost a year ago and the Lord has opened up my eyes a little more to the human race of men.

i want to say sorry, personally first, to all the guys that i have bitten at, spoke down to and walked on in my life. i have started to see that men are such a gift and a strength to us, and that needs to be uncovered, and i totally beleive that women need to take their place in the world alongside guys, as equals and supporters, as sisters and friends, wives and daughters.

too many times have i not seen the gift that God has given me, the brothers and fathers in my life, and i have trodden on their strength and character by not being who i am supposed to be in their lives.

ive been learning about the warrior, the fighter, the defender and the adventurer that a man is. and that is so exciting, mystifying and beautiful. its another part of the love story God has written for us.
(for those of you who wonder where i get this stuff...read Wild at Heart by John Elderidge)

and i want to say sorry to all men, for those of us who have stamped on you, restricted you, put you down in public and in private, who have hidden ourselves from you, who have denied to you everything you need, and the things you wanted from us, who have hurt you, betrayed you, rejected you, laughed at you, walked away from you, ignored your giftings, ignored your authority, denied you the authority you are given by God, blamed you for somone elses' mistakes, imparted on to you our hurts and our problems, who have blamed you when you find you are unable (not incapable) to 'fix' us, and all the other things we are at fault for.

thats about as much as i can do.

i do want to challenge the women who read this. we need to stop thinking about ourselves all the time and start embracing the things in the men around us, that bother us. those irritating things arent there for your pain and theyre not meant to bug us, but to tell us that there is a beauty, strength and array of gifts inside a man that are meant to be fired up by us, theyre meant to be encouraged, cheered on, released.

that urge for him to defend you, the desire to want more for your life, the want to live adventurously. theyre all gifts from God, not only for him, but you too.

i hope to some of you this makes sense.

to those of you whom it doesnt-think about it.