Stunned Silence

If you read yesterday’s parable carefully, you would have been struck by the fact that Jesus did not exactly mince his words. He quite pointedly used the word ‘torture’, and then even more pointedly says that this is exactly what will happen to each of us unless we learn forgive one another from the heart!

These are tough words that seem so very harsh. Quite frankly, some people have had absolutely horrible things done to them, so what does Jesus mean if THEY don’t forgive THEY will be punished?! Many us probably really struggle with that statement – especially if we, or a loved one - have been the victim of some horrible act.

But, perhaps if we moved into a careful discussion of this parable, we might better understand what Jesus is actually saying and meaning. You see, when people first heard this parable they would laughed out loud at parts of it. In fact they probably would have chortled away throughout this story until that last bit about a torture chamber, and then they, like us, might have fallen into a thoughtful silence.

The reason that Jesus’ listeners would have found this parable humorous was because of the sums of money used in it. For example, the sum that the first servant owed was vast. It was beyond the budgets of whole Roman provinces, and perhaps beyond the comprehension of many in Jesus’ audience. Someone has actually taken the time to work out that at the average day’s wages for a servant, it would have taken this man about 125 000 years to pay back what he owed! It was ridiculous to the point of being humorous at the thought that any servant would firstly be in a position to incur such a debt, never mind actually pleading to pay it back. The servant owed 10 000 talents, the crowds would have choked with laughter; they would have got the joke.

They would have found it even funnier at the thought of this same servant, released from his tremendous burden of debt, (a burden beyond the ability of any one human to deal with), walking away from the king’s palace praising God and then seeing a fellow servant who owed another ridiculous figure (this time ridiculous because it was so small – just a couple of days wages) and having him thrown into prison for his inability to pay. It’s like being let off a debt of 10 million rand and then imprisoning someone for owing you ten rand. Who would actually do that?

The crowd was probably still laughing at this point in the story, but their laughter would soon have quietened when Jesus got to the real punch line of the parable. The King, hearing of this latest development, had the first servant thrown into a torture chamber and then comes the clincher, ‘This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother’s & sisters from the heart’. Stunned silence. Jaws would have dropped as people in the crowd quickly tried to count up all people they had heard Jesus say were their brothers and sisters: Hated Roman oppressors, thieving, traitorous tax collectors, heretical Samaritans. Silence as the crowd chewed over thoughts of broken r/ships, betrayals by loved ones, injustices served on them, great hurts caused by others. Forgive all of them?!

Ah … the scandal of God’s grace in operation again. Perhaps you might find yourself just as offended as Jesus’ original audience was by this parable? Does this mean we have to forgive murderers, thieves and child molesters? Who might you especially struggle to forgive?

PRAY AS YOU GO

O Lord, sometimes we find your grace and love very threatening. We rejoice to hear that we are forgiven by you, but sometimes we struggle with the news that you also forgive people that we find reprehensible. Fill us with your loving Spirit once again and move us to a place where we can deal with this. Amen.
FOCUS VERSE
Read Matthew 18. 21-35 in your favourite translation.

How Do You Handle Forgiveness?

There is a lovely story set in medieval times of two monks who were on a long journey through a great forest. The first monk was middle-aged, had been in the monastic order for years and was renowned for his wisdom. The second monk was a young novice. As they walked along the forest’s winding path, the hours went quickly by, sometimes they were in conversation, and other times they were silent.

At one point they came upon a wide, rapid stream. Sitting at the edge of the water was a young woman who was evidently very distressed. When she saw the two monks, a look of relief crossed her face and she stood up to address the older of the two, "Father, you would be doing me the greatest of favours if you would agree to carry me across the river. The water is swift and I do not know how to swim. If I should slip I may drown.”

"Of course, my child," the monk replied, "I would most willing to carry you across."

The novice shot his companion a surprised glance, for under the rules of their particular order, they were strictly forbidden to even touch women. Nevertheless, the older monk took the woman in his arms, and carried her safely across. After she thanked them both she went on her way, and the monks continued in their own journey.

There was silence between them for an hour, and then two. Finally, the younger monk mustered up his courage to speak. "Father," he said, "you know that we are not allowed to touch women."
"Yes, I know that," he replied.
"Then how could you carry that woman across the stream?"
“My son," the older man said, "I put that young woman down two hours ago. But you are STILL carrying her."

This story is very much like the parable in this week’s focus reading. Instead of a different focus reading every day, this week we will be concentrating on just one reading in an effort to thoroughly wrestle with and understand it. Please open your Bible and read through Matthew 18. 21-35 a few times before continuing with today’s devotion.

Now the reason the monk story is very much like the parable is because they are both stories about carrying things around in our hearts that are not healthy for us. When the first servant in this parable was faced with ruin and slavery, he begged the King for mercy. The King relented and forgave him. But like the young monk who could not let go of the woman, this servant still tightly gripped his own lack of forgiveness to his chest. No sooner had his debt been forgiven than he turned around and threw a fellow servant into prison until he repaid him a much smaller debt. We all know the end of this story. The servant’s lack of forgiveness lands him up in a torture chamber.

How do you handle forgiveness? Do you find it easy to let go of the hurts others have caused you, or do you struggle to let go? Is there something burning within your soul at the moment – some hurt you have received that you refuse to forgive? Perhaps you have been a victim of crime, or abuse and no matter what you do, you cannot let go of the anger and pain within? Or perhaps you have caused someone else grievous pain and have refused to ask forgiveness? Whatever it is, know that it is not God’s desire for us to carry that pain within us for the rest of our days. God’s own love and forgiveness offers to heal us and set us free.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord God, thank-you for the incredible way you have always forgiven me of my sins. Help me to acknowledge where there is a lack of forgiveness within me, and bring me to a place where I can let go of the bitterness and hurt within. Amen.

FOCUS READING
Matthew 18. 21-22 NIV
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Invisible and Voiceless

No-one knows exactly how bad the situation in South Africa is for children who are abused. In reporting on this Health 24 had the following to say:

“In this country there is a culture of non-reporting and underreporting of sexual offences. With the recent moratorium placed on the release of crime statistics, accurate figures are currently not available. Earlier figures released by the SAPS make for some terrifying reading, though.

Between 1994 and 1999 23,900 rape cases were reported to the police. It is reasonable to assume that many of these cases involved children. The SAPS estimate that only between one in twenty and one in thirty-five rapes are reported to the police. The same kind of reporting ratio would hold in cases regarding minors. When parents assume that their children are not at risk, they are very wide off the mark.”

Not exactly pleasant reading for a Friday morning I know, but child abuse is something we need to be aware of and deeply concerned with. The reason I bring this up, is because I was recently struck by a thought concerning the passage on childlike faith we have been studying all week.

What does this story teach us about God? For me, it is a glimpse into the very heart of God, a reminder of divine nature: That God cares for the little ones, the very least in our society. You see children in Jesus’ day were often abused, just like today. Besides the types of abuse that are commonly known to us, it was also not unheard of for a parent to sell their children into slavery in an attempt to recover debt. Children were often treated as nothing more than possessions.

They were definitely seen and not heard, invisible and voiceless. Except … except by God walking on earth as a man. Through Jesus, we learn that God has seen their plight and heard their cries for help. Through Jesus, we learn that God’s arms are always stretched out to the little ones, to those who find themselves at the bottom of our social hierarchies.

And in fact, we learn from this God, that we should also reach out to and love the world’s little ones. For not only has God commanded that we do all we can to protect them, but God has also told us that they hold kingdom truths which we all need to learn. Further to that, Jesus tells us that when we open our arms to embrace God’s little ones, we may find that we are in fact embracing God himself.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, we want to lift up to you every child that suffers. Those who are abandoned, abused and neglected. We pray O’ God that you would be their deliverer, and that they would know you as Father. We also pray that you would raise up Christians across the world, (including ourselves), to reach out and embrace all your “little ones” who are in need. In Christ name we pray. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Mark 9:36-37 (New International Version)
36He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

What Does It All Mean?

The Christian author, Frederick Beuchner, gives us a couple of further hints at the meaning of childlike, as opposed to childish, faith. The first is that children know how to accept gifts! Since they are totally dependant from birth, children can receive gifts both gladly and unselfconsciously. They have no suspicions that there may be a catch somewhere, there is no debate about whether they deserve it or not, no worries about the proper etiquette of reciprocation.

Yet we do this type of thing all the time with God’s gift of salvation. We do our best to try to earn it, to prove we deserve it. I think Beuchner puts his finger on the very crux of Jesus’ point here, because trying to earn or prove we deserve a gift is something only adults will do. It is adults, not children, who struggle to graciously receive. Perhaps then a childlike spirit is the only thing that will actually receive God’s kingdom because it takes exactly that kind of attitude to receive grace!

Trying to earn or deserve this gift only leads us down the very sorry paths of legalism, pride and self-reliance. Interestingly enough, the story directly after this one, is about a rich, young man, who struggled with these very issues. Jesus commented on his story by saying that it was harder for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for someone who “has it all” to enter God’s kingdom. When his disciples queried him as to whether under those conditions anyone had any chance at all in entering God’s kingdom, Jesus replied: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off for yourself, every chance if you trust God to do it.”

A childlike faith will not expend energy and effort trying to earn or deserve what has already been freely lavished upon us. It is clear that the wonders of God’s kingdom come to us only as a gift, and that it takes a childlike faith to receive this gift.

Beuchner’s next point follows the first one closely. It is that children know how to trust! In fact children have to be taught not to trust strangers, for distrust is against their instincts. The point is that nothing is too terrifying for a child to face up to as long as they have a trusted adult’s hand to hold. The reason this point is linked to the last, is because we need to trust in the Person who gives us the gift of the kingdom. Trust is being courageous enough to believe God can and will “pull it off” on our behalf. Trust is giving up trying to earn our way into the kingdom, and receiving it instead as a gift of grace.

So a childlike faith opens us up to the wonders and miracles of God in everyday life. A childlike faith releases us from pride and self-reliance, and a childlike faith enables us to trust that God’s generous gift of the kingdom is all we will every truly need.

PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank-you O’ God for the gift of the kingdom. Help us to receive this gift of grace without trying to earn it or prove we deserve it. Keep us from childish traits of legalism, pride and self-reliance and bring us into a childlike faith brimming with trust in you for all things. Amen.

FOCUS READING
Mark 10. 13-16; 23-27 (Message)
The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very centre of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.
But Jesus kept on: "You can't imagine how difficult. I'd say it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for the rich to get into God's kingdom."
That set the disciples back on their heels. "Then who has any chance at all?" they asked.
Jesus was blunt: "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it."

Wake Me Up Before I Die

So if Jesus was not talking about childish faith, nor about suspending adult questions and struggles, then what exactly was he saying? What does it mean to “receive the kingdom of God like a little child”?

Tony Campolo tells the story of once being challenged by a Buddhist monk: “You Christians teach your children to pray all wrong. You teach them to pray, ‘if I should die before I wake.’ It would be better if you taught them to pray, ‘if I should wake before I die.’”

His point was how often people seemed to live life only half awake, and not fully aware of the wealth of God-filled possibilities surrounding us everyday. With this in mind, Campolo goes on to say how he once similarly challenged a student of his with the words, “How long have you lived?”

The student responded: “23 years.”

Campolo replied, “No that’s how long your heart has pumped. How long have you lived?” He then went on to explain to the student exactly what he was talking about.

The student’s reply was very interesting: “When you say it that way, maybe an hour, maybe less than that. Maybe a minute, maybe two. Most of my life seems to have been the meaningless passage of time between all too few moments when I was genuinely alive.”

Wake me up before I die! My 9 month old daughter teaches me this lesson every day. Hers is a sense of wonder at life. Her eyes open wide as if trying not to miss a single moment, her hands eagerly reach out to grasp what seems to me to be very ordinary things. Childlike faith is about having our eyes open to the miracle of everyday life again. It is about learning to see how the divine can shimmer and dance even in quite ordinary things.

The movie, “Finding Neverland,” tells the story of how James Barrie, (played by Johnny Depp) wrote the play, “Peter Pan.” At the premiere of this play, Barrie knew that there was a very real danger adults would just not ‘get’ the magic of the story. So he arranged for 25 children from a local orphanage to be present, seated randomly around the theatre. The children arrived late, and as they took their seats, disapproving patrons raised their eyebrows. When the curtains rose, the children let out squeals of delight and laughter. Tuxedoed adults, not yet quite grasping the wonder of the play, looked askance at these ragamuffin children who had caught on immediately. And then the adults began to look again, more carefully this time at what was happening onstage. Slowly their eyes started to brighten, and they began joining in the chuckles. Infected by the children, the adult patrons soon got caught up in the wonder of the play.

They were awakened to wonder and majesty. They were made alive to beauty in everyday, ordinary things. This is what children will teach us, if we take the time to listen. God is wondrously beautiful, and his presence and miracles surround us everyday. If only we would awake before we die, if only we would learn to see this, if only we would receive that truth like a little child.

'Glorious' Self-Indulgence!

So what exactly did Jesus mean when he spoke of “receiving the kingdom of God like a little child”? In helping us to understand this, perhaps it would prove helpful to first understand what Jesus was NOT saying.

Let’s face it: childhood can be a time of glorious self-indulgence. It is a time when the world seemingly revolves around you, when grown-ups rush to meet your needs at the slightest cry. Childhood can be a time of foot-stomping, ground-pounding, high-pitched screaming tantrums. Over the last few months, since my daughter was born, childish tantrums have become part of the daily reality of our house. However they are soon to stop, because my wife has told me that I am really not setting a good example for my daughter!

Let’s be clear that Jesus was NOT talking about childish and inappropriate behaviour here. The author, Philip Yancey, when writing on these verses, helpfully differentiates between childish faith and childlike faith. One example of childish faith might be a faith that is continually weak and unhealthily dependant on God, a faith that never grows us beyond ourselves. As Eugene Peterson says: “Christian faith is not neurotic dependency but childlike trust.” Of course there are times in our lives when we rely upon God to help us through difficult moments, but we are not meant to be eternally naïve spiritual infants who have no identity apart from a feeling of being comforted, protected, and catered to.

My daughter is 9 months old now, and as her parents, we make all her life decisions. What she will eat, what she will wear, when she will sleep. If we are still making all those decisions for her at age 19, if she is still unhealthily dependant on us, then quite frankly we have failed her as parents. The goal of parenthood is to produce healthy adults, not eternally dependant children. In the same way, the Bible makes it clear that God wants us to grow spiritually from infants to adults. A spiritual adult will have a healthy, vibrant, mature and yet childlike trust in God and will not continually live with a fearfully neurotic and insecure clinging to God. That is the difference between childish faith and childlike faith.

Finally, nor does having childlike faith mean that we have to suspend all our adult questions and struggles. Anyone who has spent time with a toddler will tell you that questions form a huge part of their make-up! A wise person once said: “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” Doubt is not necessarily an obstacle to faith, but potentially can be a seed of faith, a means of growth. Asking questions and struggling through issues, can set us on the road to deeper faith. What we learn from children however, is that they ask their questions without cynicism. Their questions come out of a genuine desire to learn and grow. We need to learn that despite any fears or questions we may have, we can still love and trust our sometimes mysterious God. It is ok to have questions, or to struggle with doubts, just so long as you don’t let them stop you from having a relationship with God. A relationship with God, like any relationship, can only be plunged into without knowing exactly where it may take you.

PRAY AS YOU GO
Holy and mysterious God, we pray that you would help us to learn the difference between childish and childlike faith. Pray grow us into spiritually mature adults who would always retain an incredible trust in you as our Father. Help us to work through any doubts and questions we may have in way that grows us closer to you. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE
Psalm 131 (NIV)
My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; 
       I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, 
       like a weaned child is my soul within me.
 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

Childlike Faith

The story is told of a man breaking free from prison. It took him years to painstakingly dig a tunnel, which he carefully hid behind a poster on his cell wall. Unbeknown to him, a miscalculation on the angle of his tunnel would ensure that he would finally dig out into a nearby children’s playground. The day eventually arrived when he broke through the last metre of soil. He lifted himself out onto the surface, jumped to his feet and started shouting: “I’m free. Thank God Almighty, that at last I am FREE”! His celebrations were interrupted however, by a tug from a little hand on his pants. He looked down to see a little toddler standing there with a defiant face and hands on hips. “That’s nothing”, the tyke retorted, “I’m already FOUR”!

This week we will be looking at the concept of childlike faith. We will be focussing our attention mainly on Mark 10.13-16, although other verses will be used as well.

Now it was common practice for ancient Jews to bring their children to a respected Rabbi for a blessing. This is obviously what happened here, with local parents attempting to bring their children to Jesus. However, they were prevented from doing so by the disciples. The Greek word used to describe how the disciples ‘rebuked’ them, is the same as elsewhere used by Mark to describe Jesus rebuking a storm into calmness. In other words, the disciples quite aggressively chased the children away. Perhaps they thought Jesus was tired after an exhausting day of ministry, but after so long in his company, they really should have known better. Mark’s Gospel clearly says that Jesus was indignant with the disciples for doing this. It describes Jesus as having a kind of embarrassed anger that his disciples would so misrepresent him. Time after time he had taught them about God’s love and care for those considered the ‘least’ in society. The powerless, and the marginalised had always been central to Jesus’ ministry, and now he overheard the disciples trying to drive some of them away.

This prompted him to tell them: “Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very centre of life in the kingdom,” (Mark 10. 14 MSG). Jesus then went onto say: “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it,” (Mark 10. 15 NIV).

Jesus is saying that we can only receive the kingdom of God, if we learn to receive it as little children. It strikes me that there is a powerful lesson to learn here and that these are very important words for us to hear and understand. This is why we will spend the whole of next week attempting to do exactly that.

Spend some time today thinking about what Jesus may have meant in this passage. Write your thoughts down and pray over them.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O’ Lord our God, we pray that you would open up our hearts and minds to this Scripture in a wonderful way. Help us to learn from you in this, and so deepen our faith and enlarge our hearts. This we pray in the name of our Teacher and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

FOCUS READING
Mark 10:13-16 (NIV)
 13People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Billy Graham pays tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Monday, January 16, was Martin Luther King Jnr day in the United States - a time of remembering a quite remarkable religious and civil rights leader who led an inspirational non-violent resistance to legalised racial prejudice.

Another world renowned Christian leader, Billy Graham, who is now well into his 90's, paid tribute to King, who he counted as a good friend.

"One night civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom I was pleased to count a friend, gave an eloquent opening prayer at the service; he also came at my invitation to one of our Team retreats during the Crusade to help us understand the racial situation in America more fully," Graham wrote in his autobiography.

King himself credited Graham for using his fame as America’s most famous Christian figure of the 60’s and 70’s to assist in giving momentum to his civil rights protests.

King once said, "Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been."

During the civil rights movement, Dr. Graham preached: "Jesus was not a white man; He was not a black man. He came from that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe. Christianity is not a white man’s religion, and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black. Christ belongs to all people; He belongs to the whole world."

Graham also recounted the moment he learned of King’s tragic death. Graham was touring Australia when he was told that King had been assassinated.

"I was almost in a state of shock,” said Graham. “Not only was I losing a friend through a vicious and senseless killing, but America was losing a social leader and a prophet, and I felt his death would be one of the greatest tragedies in our history."

Graham also shared how his thinking on racial equality changed very early on.

"I cannot point to any single event or intellectual crisis that changed my mind on racial equality. At Wheaton College, I made friends with black students, and I recall vividly one of them coming to my room one day and talking with deep conviction about America’s need for racial justice.

"Most influential, however, was my study of the Bible, leading me eventually to the conclusion that not only was racial inequality wrong but Christians especially should demonstrate love toward all peoples."

Scientists show how internet addiction alters the human brain

In a groundbreaking study using MRI scanners, a team of scientists have shown how Internet dependency will effect the same brain abnormalities that people addicted to alcohol, cocaine and cannabis have. It is hoped that the findings will throw light on other behavioural problems and lead to the development of new approaches to treatment.

There are an estimated 5 to 10 per cent of Internet users thought to be addicted. By addicted it is meant that they are unable to control their use. The majority of these are games players who play for so long they will go without food or drink for long periods, while their education, work and relationships will suffer as a result.

The team of Chinese researchers scanned the brains of 17 adolescents diagnosed with "Internet addiction disorder" and compared them with scans from 16 of their peers. The results displayed impairment of white matter fibres in the brain connecting regions involved in emotional processing, attention, decision making and cognitive control. This is very similar to the changes in white matter that have been observed in other forms of addiction to substances such as alcohol and cocaine.

"The findings suggest that white matter integrity may serve as a potential new treatment target in Internet addiction disorder," the scientists wrote in the online journal Public Library of Science One.

Henrietta Bowden Jones, a consultant psychiatrist at Imperial College, London, who is in charge of Britain's only NHS clinic for Internet addicts and problem gamblers, told The Independent that: "The majority of people we see with serious Internet addiction are gamers – people who spend long hours in roles in various games that cause them to disregard their obligations. I have seen people who stopped attending university lectures, failed their degrees or their marriages broke down because they were unable to emotionally connect with anything outside the game."

Bowden Jones added that while most people spend more time online than they did ten years, this is not evidence of addiction.

"It is different. We are doing it because modern life requires us to link up over the net in regard to jobs, professional and social connections – but not in an obsessive way. When someone comes to you and says they did not sleep last night because they spent 14 hours playing games, and it was the same the previous night, and they tried to stop but they couldn't – you know they have a problem. It does tend to be the gaming that catches people out."

However, Professor Michael Farrell, director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia, warned that the study did have its limitations.

"The limitations [of this study] are that it is not controlled, and it's possible that illicit drugs, alcohol or other caffeine-based stimulants might account for the changes. The specificity of 'Internet addiction disorder' is also questionable."

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day marked across the world

The 5th annual National Human Trafficking Awareness Day was marked across the globe on Wednesday by organisations keen to bring this massive problem to the general public’s attention.

There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today, with three out of four being women. Based on last year’s figures, it is believed that in 2012, 800,000 people will be sex-trafficked; with 80 percent of those being women while 50 percent will be children.

One group in particular were so passionate about bringing attention to the problem of human trafficking, they even climbed a mountain together. As part of an Operation Mobilization initiative, 46 women from all over the world tackled Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya.

Known as the Freedom Climbers, none of these women were professional climbers but participated because some of them had been victims of sex trafficking and other human injustices and were keen to become a voice for the voiceless. Their climb was symbolic of the long and harsh journey that trafficking victim’s face.

"I talk to friends here in the States, and they say, ‘What can we do with such a huge problem?’" said Cathey Anderson, leader of The Freedom Climb. "I tell them, ‘We can all make a difference for one woman or child at a time! We can see freedom for them!’"

"Freedom for one woman will not only change her future but all the generations after her!," Anderson insisted. "We know we will not end slavery and human trafficking with this climb. We can, however, bring hope and an opportunity for freedom to women and children who currently have none."

The Bible, Justin Bieber and Facebook

Pop music star Justin Bieber recently leapfrogged the Bible in popularity on Facebook. Bieber’s page was rated by AllFacebook.com as the third most engaged Facebook page, just head of The Bible in fourth place.

The list of “Facebook's Most Engaging Pages” is released ever week, and is determined by totaling the number of interactions – or the “likes” and comments – that fans post to each page over the course of seven days.

Bieber’s page garnered around 1.3 million interactions, just slightly ahead of The Bible, but he has some way to catch up to the page in the number one spot, Jesus Daily, which attracted nearly 4.7 million interactions in the last week. Second place belongs “Dios Es Bueno,” which means “God Is Good,” with about 2.1 million interactions.

While Bieber's Christian faith is well known, the teenage pop sensation recently created controversy when he informed V Magazine that he feels no need to attend church.

“I don’t think I’m religious. I am spiritual. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe that he put me in this position, and that I have to always give him the glory he deserves for putting me here. But I don’t consider myself religious,” Bieber said to V Magazine in an interview.

“A lot of people who are religious, I feel like they get lost. They go to church just to go to church. I am not trying to disrespect them at all, you know, whatever works for you; but for me, I focus more on praying and talking to Him. I don’t have to go to church. I haven’t been to church in a long time, but I know I have a relationship with Him. People can be like, 'If you don’t go to church, what do you mean, how are you a Christian?' But I am. I talk to Him, and that’s all.”

Bieber posted the link to the V Magazine interview on his Facebook account on Monday, and since then nearly 37,000 people “liked” it, while approximately 7,000 have commented on the post.

(Image from Online News Resource).

Mars Hill bids farewell to Rob Bell

Members of Mars Hill bid an emotional goodbye to their renowned pastor and teacher, Rob Bell, on Sunday. Bell has become known for his brilliant teaching through the NOOMA series, and recently courted controversy in evangelical circles for his book ‘Love Wins,’ which speaks about heaven and hell.

Bell announced last year that he would be leaving Mars Hill Bible Church to involve himself more fully in his speaking and writing. Bell started the church 12 years ago and it has since grown to tens of thousands of members. Bell is planning on writing three new books, while he is also co-creating a new ABC television drama with Carlton Cuse, the producer of “Lost”. Bell has also already launched in new speaking tour entitled “Fit to Smash Ice.”

At his farewell ceremony, Mars Hill co-pastor Shane Hipps presented Bell and his wife, Kristen, with a book carrying stories and good wishes from church members.

“Grief is like a sprinter and joy is like an endurance runner,” The Grand Rapids Press quoted Hipps as saying. “I hope this community joins with me in the journey of grief fading and joy searching.”

Hipps added jokingly, “I’m hoping 10 years from now you will say, ‘Rob Bell? That sounds familiar.’” Mars Hill, he insisted, “is not Rob Bell. It’s a whole lot bigger than Rob and Kristen. It’s as big as God himself.”

Singer and songwriter David Crowder also appeared in the service to lead worship.

Bell last preached at Mars Hill on December 18, where he said:

“This church, this place, this community, was once simply a hunch. A dream. A vision. A picture in the mind of a new kind of church for the new world we find ourselves in. I will never be able to fully, adequately explain what it has been like to have imagined you, conceived of you – this church – and then have you exist.

“When people ask, ‘what about Mars Hill?’ or ‘what’s Mars Hill going to do?’ It’s as if Mars Hill is a disembodied reality with a life of its own,” Bell added. But, “here’s the twist: the church is not an inanimate, impersonal product. There is no ‘Mars Hill’ in theory. There is no abstract, disembodied entity Mars Hill apart from the people in this room who ARE Mars Hill.

“I feel like I’m just getting started,” Bell concluded. “Like I’m a rookie, a freshman. I believe that that God has made this day. That it’s good. And you can have joy in it, even if you’re limping.”

Scientists create monster 'super-soldier' ants

In a move that proves scientists have learnt nothing from watching B-grade horror movies, a group of genetic specialists from Canada have created freakish monster ants with giant heads and jaws.

The ants were created by dabbing normal ant larvae with a special hormone, after which the larvae develop into 'super-soldiers' rather than normal soldier or worker ants.

The scientists believe the monster ants could be a genetic throwback to an ancestor that lived millions of years ago and claim that the experiments show that ordinary ants of the species Pheidole morrisi contain all the genetic 'tools' needed to turn them into 'super-soldiers,' since all they need is a hormonal push for the development to occur.

Dr Rajendhran Rajakumar, from McGill University, Canada, and colleagues wrote: 'We uncovered an ancestral development potential to produce a novel 'super-soldier' subcaste that has been retained throughout a hyperdiverse ant genus that evolved 35 to 60 million years ago.'

These 'super-soldier' ants do occur in the wild, but only rarely. In the deserts of America and Mexico, they exist to protect their colony from raids by using their enormous heads to block the nest entrance and attack any enemy ants who venture too close.

(Image source: Alex Wild/alexanderwild.com).

Our Father is Younger Than We

Joy is at the very heart of WHO God is! Joy is a fruit of God’s Spirit and it is part and parcel of God’s nature. And because joy is at the heart of who God is, then it should be at the heart of who we are as well.

In his wonderful little book called ‘Orthodoxy,’ G.K. Chesterton writes about how the joy that one sees in a little child is just a fraction of the joy that exists in the heart of God:

“Because children have a bounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again.’ And the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead, for grown up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again!’ to the sun, and every evening, ‘Do it again!’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike. It may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy, for we have sinned and grown old and our Father is younger than we.’

Isn’t that an incredible thought? We have sinned and grown old, jaded, tired, worried and irritated, rushed and blind; we have sinned and grown old and our Father is younger than we!

We see this rather wonderfully throughout the story of Creation. Day 1 - God creates and then pronounces, ‘It is good!’ Day 2 – God creates and then pronounces, ‘It is good!’ Day 3 – God creates and then pronounces, ‘It is good!’ And so it has gone every day from that day until this one. It is good!

That is how it is with God … but not with us: For we have sinned and grown old and our Father is younger than we are.

Joy is more than happiness because joy celebrates ALL of life. God did this in Jesus by sharing in both our laughter and our tears. Jesus laughed out loud with lepers being healed and he wept alongside grieving families.

Remember what Jesus once said to his disciples as he prepared them for the day he would leave them. ‘I have given you all my teachings so that MY joy might be in you, and that your joy might be complete, it might be filled up to the brim!’

God is a God of incredible joy and so the source for all life’s joy is God himself. Don’t spend your life pursuing happiness, don’t even pursue joy, instead pursue the God who is the source of all these things and more!

We come to God because none of us has it within ourselves, except momentarily, to be joyous. Joy is not us concentrating so hard on being positive that beads of sweat pop out on our foreheads! As Eugene Peterson reminds us, joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence! We don’t have to be joyful in order to follow Jesus; it’s what gradually happens within us when we do follow Jesus.

Joy is God’s dancing ’it-is-good and lets-do-it-again’ nature being lived out in us.

PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord you are the source of all life and all joy. Joy is something that you form within us as we faithfully follow you and obey your commandments. We pray that your joy would indeed be within us so that our joy might be filled to overflowing. In Jesus name. Amen.

FOCUS READING
John 15:9-11 (NIV)
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

The Difference Between Joy and Happiness

There is a big difference between joy and happiness. Unfortunately, there seem to be several misconceptions that abound in modern thought about what joy really is.

Firstly, the concept of joy needs to be rescued from Christians themselves, because there is the unfortunate misperception that to be joyful one has to look and act like Ned Flanders in the TV show ‘The Simpsons’! Joy is not a sickly-sweet, unreal, lets-all-pretend-we-are H-A-P-P-Y!

In fact nothing could be more real and down to earth than joy.

If I had to define joy it would be as follows: Joy is a courageous and persistent CELEBRATION OF LIFE, even when times are tough (in fact, especially when times are tough). Joy is that which helps us to embrace all of life, both the laughter and the tears, without the need for escapism into daydreams or by pretending to be what we are not.

We must understand that happiness is not the same as joy, although happiness can form a part of joy. Joy is much bigger than happiness! Because circumstances allow for happiness (it comes from the same root word as ‘happening’), a change in circumstances can therefore make our happiness dissolve into thin air. Happiness is emotion, whereas joy is a choice, it is a discipline that doesn’t come and go with circumstances but defies them and lives to the full despite any difficulties.

Joy can coexist with doubt, ambiguity and pain. Joy doesn’t seek to escape from tough circumstances but rather to overcome them without losing who we are in the process. Joy is an inner contentedness, trust, peace and knowledge that takes us through tough circumstances knowing that God has never let us down and that God NEVER will!

So the pursuit of happiness is actually a misguided one. God created our souls for joy – that’s what is promised as a fruit of God’s Spirit. When we pursue happiness instead of joy we blur the lines of what it is we really need. We begin to misunderstand and misdirect our soul’s yearnings in a number of different ways.

Eugene Peterson pointed out one of these common misunderstandings when he said: ‘We try to get joy through entertainment. We pay someone to make jokes, tell stories, perform dramatic actions, sing songs. We buy the vitality of another’s imagination to divert and enliven our own poor lives. The enormous entertainment industry in [the world today] is a sign of the depletion of joy in our culture. Society is a bored, gluttonous king employing a court jester to divert it after an overindulgent meal. But that kind of joy never penetrates our lives, never changes our basic constitution. The effects are extremely temporary – a few minutes, a few hours, a few days at most. When we run out of money, the joy trickles away. We cannot make ourselves joyful. Joy cannot be commanded, purchased or arranged.’

The question you may well be asking yourself now is, ‘Why is joy important to me then? Why do I have to know about it?’ Well, joy is vital to faithfully following Christ because it is that quality that triumphs over adversity without losing who God made us to be in the process. In an age when sadness abounds, joy is the triumph of God’s Spirit being worked in and through the human spirit.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Holy and loving God, help us to understand what joy truly is. Help us to not confuse it with happiness and help us to never be false and pretend to be what we are not. Fill us with your spirit and your joy so that we might learn to celebrate all of life and live it to the full in your name. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE
Philippians 4:4, 6-7 (The Message)
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Some of you might recognise today's title from the recent major movie starring Will Smith. In the movie (based on a true life story), Smith plays Chris Gardner, a man who is bright, ambitious and driven and yet always puts the safety of his son, Christopher, first. The movie tells the story of Gardner’s struggles to make something out of his life. He encounters one setback after another, at one point even ending up sleeping on the streets with his son.

After months of poverty and hardship, facing one disappointment after another, Gardner finally becomes rich beyond his wildest dreams! … And then the movie ends. ‘So is that it?’ we are left asking ourselves. Is that what the pursuit of happiness is all about? Getting rich beyond our wildest dreams?

Now, I am not aware of how closely the movie portrays the ‘true story’, but I do need to say that the conclusions this movie draws for us sends some serious shivers down my spine. Do we really believe that endless wealth will provide us with all the happiness we desire?

Yet, in all honesty, I know that my personal daydreams have sometimes involved winning lotteries or somehow getting rich. We all do that to some extent. When times are tough we tend to daydream about past happy memories, or we daydream about a bright and prosperous future. We place our hopes in fantasies like winning the lottery or drastically changing our present circumstances in some way.

This is accentuated because times are quite tough right now. There are fears over a global recession, while many parts of the world such as Zimbabwe and the Middle East seem to be in constant turmoil. Wherever we live, we seem to be facing our own challenges of various kinds. Those of us who live in South Africa can find reading the papers a bit depressing because you are almost sure to find the latest horror crime story in the headlines.

Yes, times are quite tough for many at the moment. Which is why the title ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ probably stirs something deep within our souls. All of us, probably without exception, would like to find and know some happiness. Who wouldn’t want more laughter, fun and inner contentment to be part of their lives?

Yet Scripture would challenge this kind of response to life’s difficult times. The pursuit of happiness is understandable but ultimately hugely misguided. For if we pursue only happiness then we are really looking for all the wrong things in all the wrong places.

Scripture emphasises that what our souls need is to know joy rather than just happiness. And there is a huge difference!

We will spend the rest of this week studying that difference and discussing why exactly joy is such an integral part of the Christian walk.

In the meantime, spend some time thinking about your daydreams. When times are tough, what kind of daydreams do you escape into? What can you learn about yourself from this?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, we know that the pursuit of happiness is something that drives us powerfully. Help us not to look for all the wrong things in all the wrong places in the hope they will provide us with the inner happiness and contentment we so desire. Help us to find all we need from you, and you alone. Amen.

FOCUS READING
Psalm 16. 8-11 NIV
I have set the LORD always before me. 
 Because he is at my right hand,I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; 
       my body also will rest secure,
  because you will not abandon me to the grave, 
       nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
 You have made known to me the path of life; 
       you will fill me with joy in your presence, 
       with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Second Choice Worlds and God

Some of you may have been reading through this week’s devotions and thinking to yourselves, “Well this is all ok for God. He never has to deal with unwelcome changes, or a second choice world not of his choosing. God is powerful enough to sort it all out with just a wave of his hand”.

If we have ever found ourselves thinking like that, we would have of course, been forgetting about the Garden of Eden. Remember that? God’s first choice world is seen in the Garden of Eden – a place of beauty, justice, peace, love and deep communion between God and humanity. This peaceful place was, however, fractured by humanity’s poor choices, and thereafter sin entered the picture.

It is interesting to note what God did at this stage. God did not in his righteous anger destroy us with a click of his fingers. Nor did God give up on us by turning his back on us and leaving us to our own devices. No, God in passionate love, decided on an entirely different, yet far more difficult way. God chose to sacrificially enter this “second choice world” through Jesus and to impact it. God faced human temptations and shared human sufferings. God did this so that he might show us a way back into relationship with him, and so that he might restore us into Life as he originally created us to live it. It was the long way round but God saw us as worth it.

Make no mistake, God is powerful enough to sort out the situation with a wave of his hand, but love demands following an entirely more difficult route. You see for love to truly be real, free choice has to exist. Relationships have to be chosen, they cannot be forced. This is why God did not use power to sort us out, but gave up power for the sake of love, (see Philippians 2. 6-8). God’s extravagant love for us means that he would never give up on us, that he would enter into a world comprising the very worst of our mistakes, just so that he can bring us back to him.

This should help us to remember that God can do something wonderful even in the very worst of second choice worlds. God does not necessarily give us an easy way out of a bad situation with a click of his fingers, but he does offer us all the grace and strength we need to get through it. Although the path may be narrow, God takes us by the hand and remains with us to the very end of our journey.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, we learn from the Bible that you are not necessarily into “easy-way outs” of difficult situations. For you did not abandon us when we turned from you, nor did you destroy us when we sinned. Instead you took the narrow road, the long and difficult way of love that has brought us a wonderful message of redemption and hope. Give us the strength we need to follow you always even if it takes us down some narrow roads, and help us to keep trusting in you always. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Abandoning Perfectionism

The movie, “The Truman Show”, was a clever satire which poked fun at how people often choose to live their lives. Jim Carrey played a character called Truman who unknowingly grows up as the central character on a reality show. He had no idea that all his friends and family members were nothing more than actors, and that the town in which he lived was a giant indoor set.

His was a pretend and commercially driven world where everything worked perfectly. The sun rose exactly the same way everyday, the rains always came on time, his neighbours were unfailingly polite, and his wife was perfect in every possible sense. And yet within all this perfection, Truman constantly struggled with the feeling that he was not actually living and that there was something vital missing in his life. Scarily enough, we often perceive that our lives should be exactly like Truman’s…perfect. We pray and hope for a nice life in a nice world with no problems. A world where being problem free proves that God loves us and that we are doing something right.

However this perfectionist view of the world is not the world the Bible speaks of. For in the Bible we find that saints make error judgements, Christians die, the innocent face unfair judgements, loved ones are lost, and prominent Christian leaders have strong disagreements. In other words, life is not always perfect. In fact it is often downright unfair and tough. Life can be messy, and that is the simple reality of it all.

Faith is not about never having problems, and never being stressed, tired or angry. Faith is not even about never having doubts. Faith is about holding onto God and the life God wants us to live, even though everything around us becomes messed up for a while.

So much of our prayer lives has to do with convincing God to buy into things as we would have them done, and to make our lives perfect. We forget about Jesus’ great prayer - ‘not my will but yours be done’. There is no doubt that God wants to bless our lives in an extraordinary way, but sometimes our view of what it means to be blessed differs from God’s. For example, God would rather have us be faithful than successful. Paul managed to abandon perfectionism when he saw that although he had arrived in Rome as a prisoner and not as a preacher, Christ was still being proclaimed in a wonderful way. Paul managed to see his prison guards as a potential congregation!

Perhaps it is time that we started working through the kind of process that Paul obviously went through. We should commit our lives to God’s agenda and not our own. We should look again at difficult and imperfect situations and see what God could do through them. We should pray for faithfulness before we pray for success.

PRAY AS YOU GO
Holy God, help us to abandon our often vain and selfish ideas of perfectionism. If we face difficult situations, it is not necessarily because we have sinned, but simply because they are part and parcel of life. We commit ourselves to following you no matter what. We trust that your ways are greater than our own, and that your wisdom far exceeds ours. We pray that you would grant us a spirit of deep faithfulness to you and to your plan for the world. Amen.

FOCUS READING
Philippians 1:18-21 (The Message)
And I'm going to keep that celebration going because I know how it's going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don't expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn't shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I'm Christ's messenger; dead, I'm his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose.

When Life Comes Crashing Down

The book of Philippians describes a person whose first choice world came crashing down around his ears. Paul the Apostle had nurtured a dream for well over 20 years: to go to Rome and to preach the Gospel and strengthen the church in that strategically important city. Paul eventually did get to Rome, but not as he had always hoped. For Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner of the state and not a preacher of the Gospel. Paul’s first choice dream was rudely interrupted by the second choice reality of a prison cell and chains.

Paul not only had to contend with life chained between two Roman guards, but also with other preachers who treated him as a rival and badmouthed him behind his back. It always hurts to take cheap shots like that from people who should be on your side and who should know better. Finally, Paul also admits in his letter to the Philippians, that he was feeling weary after a long and fruitful ministry.

Paul’s life had taken a dramatic and unexpected turn for the worse on more than one front. Yet his attitude was nothing like you would expect it to be. He did not react with bitterness or anger, but with joy, peace and love. He managed to see the Godly possibilities behind his truly difficult circumstances.

How did he do this? The temptation is to see Paul as some sort of superhuman saint who lived life on a level too high for anyone else to attain to. If we do this we are doing a disservice to Paul himself, who continually spoke of his very real human mistakes and weaknesses. He often referred to himself as the “Chief of Sinners”, and spoke of his “thorn in the flesh”.
No, Paul’s ability to cope with a horrible second choice scenario was not based upon any abilities of his own. It was simply because he had learnt through a lifetime of hardship and difficulties, to trust in God through all things. We need to know that the God who sustained Paul through his most difficult times, is the same God who offers to strengthen us as well. Paul was not a superhuman being, but he did have a remarkable trust in God. Paul is a shining example to everyone who would also want to entrust their lives to God, even though they may be facing painful second choice worlds.

Tomorrow we will look more closely at what else we can learn from Paul’s example.

PRAY AS YOU GO
Almighty God, when it comes to unwelcome changes and second choice worlds, help us to remember that we are never alone. Even the greatest of Biblical figures faced up to failures, disappointments, grief and shattered dreams. Help us to learn from their examples and to model our faith on theirs. Amen.

FOCUS READING
Philippians 1:12-18 (NIV)
 12Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
 15It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel. 17The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Second Choice Worlds

As we concluded yesterday, change happens. As difficult as it sometimes may be, that is a truth we simply have to learn to embrace. I say difficult because sometimes we find ourselves in situations of change that are distinctly unwelcome. Our lives may have changed for the worst over the last couple of months. Perhaps you didn’t get the exam results you were hoping for, or that promotion at work. Or you may have had to move to a new town, or you may be facing up to some situation of hurt or grief like an unwanted pregnancy, or the loss of a loved one. Maybe you are struggling with the thought of another year doing a soulless job, or living with a toxic relationship.

The author, Viv Thomas, has a phrase to describe situations such as these. He calls them, “Second Choice Worlds”. Everyone likes to make choices in life, and of course we all would like to choose only the best for ourselves. In the ideal world, we all would have wonderful relationships, fulfilling jobs, more than enough money, and fantastically good looks. Most of us would nominate all these things and more as our first choice situations. However, in the real world, things don’t always happen that smoothly. Often our first choices just are not realistically available to us, or they don’t turn out in the way we hoped.
It is then we have to deal with situations of difficult change, because the reality of second choice worlds can come as rude and unwelcome intrusions. We may get frightened and stressed, or angry and bitter as a result. Sometimes we even respond by indulging ourselves in “First Choice World” fantasies. We daydream ourselves right out of our situations and into a better reality.

The problem is that these daydreams have no real power to help us deal with the difficult situation at hand. As a young boy, my family often moved town because of the nature of my dad’s job. As I got older, I struggled to adapt to my new schools, and so used to daydream all the time about being back in my old school with all my mates. I did this to such an extent that it took me much longer than it should have to deal with the change. I made new friends more slowly because I was refusing to come to terms with my changed reality.

Of course there is nothing wrong with having the occasional daydream, but we need to remember that continually fantasising about “First Choice Worlds” that just do not exist, will never help us move beyond our pain and struggles. Unfortunately, “Second Choice Worlds”, are part of the reality of life. Unwelcome change may have brought all sorts of trials and grief to us, but the Bible promises us that God will “refine” our faith through these difficult moments. This message builds on yesterdays, because it is a reminder that not only will God always be with us, but also that God can press divine meaning even into the most unwelcome of “Second Choice Worlds”.

PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, sometimes life brings us into unfair and painful circumstances. We acknowledge that we can often have unhealthy methods of dealing with circumstances like that. We ask that you would teach us healthy and wise ways of dealing with our “Second Choice Worlds”. In Jesus name. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE
1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)
6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Embracing Change

2011 is done and dusted and we are all yet another year older. Some of us find getting old and all the changes associated with increasing age hard to cope with. I recently came across the following list which humorously deals with getting older:

“You know you are getting older when … most of your dreams are re-runs; the airline attendant offers you ‘coffee, tea or milk-of-magnesia’; you sit down in your rocking chair and can’t get it started; you watch a pretty girl walk by and your pace-maker opens a nearby garage door”.

But of course age is not the only change we struggle with. The world around us seems to evolve with ever increasing rapidity. For example, we have constant technological changes. (Like I have mentioned before, I still can’t get used to the idea of magazines on your cell phones!) New technologies are constantly hitting the markets. By the time you get your new cell phone home and out of the box, it is already outdated by a newer model.

We also have constantly evolving cosmological changes. This is just a fancy way of saying that what we know about the universe, and the way we view the world around us, are shifting all the time. Scientists are constantly changing their minds about stuff like how the world came into being, whether Pluto can be considered a planet or not, and what ingredients may or may not cause cancer.

I guess what I am trying to say is that whether we like it or not, change happens! As much as we may sometimes struggle with it, change is a fact of life. As Heraklietos once said: “Change alone is unchanging”.

Alvin Toffler, author of the best-selling “Future Shock”, says that when people go through times of change, they need what he calls, “islands of stability”. What he is meaning is that we need to learn what we can hold onto and what we can let go of when our circumstances change. For example, we need to let go of our resistance to change and our fixation with things as they once may have been. We need to embrace the fact of change.

But we also need to know that as we move into an every-changing future, there are certain things we can still hold onto as being dependable and true, our “islands of stability”. Read today’s focus reading (Hebrews 13:8), and then remind yourself that no matter what happens in our lives, God’s love for us always has been and always will be. We are God’s beloved children yesterday, today and tomorrow. God will never stop reaching out to us and God will never let go of us.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, in our constantly changing society, it is good to remember that your love for us always has been and always will be. That you will never let go of us and never give up on us. Give us strength to hold onto this timeless and unchanging truth. Amen.

FOCUS READING
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.