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We might change the wallpaper or some paint to refresh a room. It can change our mood and lift that room so we want to spend more time with it.

From haircuts to wallpaper, and cars to our favourite restaurant, things change. Sometimes, the simplest things can make something appear entirely new and different.

In our lives as Christians it can beneficial to refresh our Christin faith too! Perhaps it’s time to change where or when you read the bible? Or to try a new devotional plan? Perhaps you could switch the bible translation you use.

When things become too familiar it can be helpful, but it can also hinder us as we get lazy and see what we want to see.

When I switched to a different bible translation, it refreshed my enjoyment of scripture. Now, I’ve almost always loved reading scripture. But, switching from the NIV 1984 version, to an ESV or CSB version really helped me see things in scripture I’d not seen before.

There’s always a risk when we make a change. But the greater the risk, the greater the reward can be. So, what is going asking you to change so you can become ever more like Jesus?

Just a thought…

Andy B

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Ever found yourself wondering around the house looking for something you already have in your hand? Or perhaps you put the milk in the cupboard and the tea bags in the fridge?

Now, of course I’ve never done those things myself. I’m just using the examples a friend told me about.

We all can have moments when we simply can’t get our head in the game. We are going through our day with odd socks, two coats – one on each arm, and a third for our head. It made sense, but now we’re trying to work out what is wrong.

Life can be good and easy. It can be hard and tough.

The ability to be flexible and adaptable is important. But, so is being able to prioritise.

It’s good go make plans for the day, week or even the year ahead. But, it’s also always ever better to take our plans to God, and remember that His view of what is best for us is often a little different to our own version of planned for events.

If life is overwhelming you, check the fridge for those tea bags, make yourself a cup and have a breather in a comfy chair, maybe even in a darkened room with a favourite biscuit, and take everything you hope to achieve to God, to check on what He desires for you to do today, this week or this year.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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#GoDeeper

Andy B delves deeper into this week’s theme from the angle of knowing who we are in Christ, i.e., knowing that we are free from our sins.

He unpacks Psalm 139:23 by pointing out that being a Christian not only involves God encouraging us but also involves God cleaning out all the sin in our lives.

Andy B also talks about how a rock climber training for a really difficult mountain climb has no difficulty walking on a slightly narrow mountain path because of his confidence in his strengths.

Andy B

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Introduction
In this week’s Marriage Matters, Andy B and Jo talk about work, whether both husband and wife work, whether one spouse stays at home or whether one or both spouses work away. Whatever your situation, whether usual or temporary, we need to consider how our work fits with our marriage – sort of work life balance but focusing on work spouse balance!

Andy and Jo affirm the importance of work but consider how work can have positive and negative effects on our marriages, noting how we can spend too much time at work, not switch off from work and not connect in with our spouse enough. 

Andy, as usual, makes sense of it all with scripture verses:

• 1 Thessalonians 4:11
• 2 Thessalonians 3:10
• Colossians 3:23

You could also check Proverbs 31 where there is some good stuff about working!

• Check out the Sixty Minute Father by Rob Parsons – whether you have children or not!
• Check out the Sixty Minute Family by Rob Parsons
• Think of little things you can do to stay connected when you are away from your spouse working – what about leaving a note in your spouse’s lunchbox – not in the sandwich itself!

The Take Away

Andy and Jo both reiterate the importance of connecting with our spouses when at work and making sure that we switch off from work. Andy noted that we can switch off our work phones! Jo talked fondly about how Andy makes her a flask of coffee to take to work each day and as Jo drinks the coffee at work Jo is reminded of her husband whilst at work!

Andy and Jo discuss the importance of boundaries being set around work – switching off from work and tuning into your spouse – listening to one another and being accountable to one another. Andy shares a time when Jo was direct in telling Andy to stop working when he was overdoing it and how Andy gentling and lovingly had one occasion to prize Jo from her work when she needed to take a break!

Work involves your spouse!

Andy and Jo

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When we spend too long staring at a computer screen we can end up being a little too deep in the Virtual World. It’s easy to be absorbed into what is virtual, missing the reality of the Real World.

Ever been watching your washing on the line, getting soaked by a downpour - while looking at an app on your phone that ells you there is 0% chance of rain that day? Maybe that’s just me.

Sure, I look at a weather radar website and see what the rain is doing real time, but I still stick my head out the door to check if it’s raining, or not. Wet head = rain!!

One day our middle son, Nathan, was out for a run. He had returned home, switched off his GPS, had a shower and was dressed with me starting to worry because I thought he had been out for a little too long past how long he said he’d be. Checking out a GPS app we all use to keep each other safe (and so I can stand with garage door open and a cup of fresh tea ready for Jo because it tells me when she is nearly home like the good husband I try to be) I was unable to find Nathan’s phone on the map. Nothing! Except the growing concern for where he might be.

Well, since he’d turned off his GPS 20 minutes earlier, that’s no real surprise! Jo found him by shouting up the stairs if he responded…clever woman my wife!

Sometimes we can miss what’s going on right in front of our faces because of what a computer program is telling us.

I once saw a powerful photo. The Queen was passing by an enthusiastic crowd of people in central London. It seemed that everybody in that crowd was holding a digital device of some sort, to take a permanent record of what was going on. Except for one wiser, older, lady who was standing there, simply gazing at the passing procession - with her own eyes and clearly enjoying every minute. The rest of the crowd only really got see a digital version as they held their phones in the air, eyes glued to their screens.

Let’s make sure we don’t miss the real world because of what ‘may’ be happening in the Virtual World. The Real World is SO much more enjoyable. Especially because it doesn’t updating, and won’t ever crash! It’s better than 4k, and has a surround sound system that will literally blow you away with colours we can only dream of. Or you know, actually see by looking at them with our own eyes.

And, despite many efforts, you still can’t virtually smell anything!!

Just a thought…

Andy B

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#GoDeeper

Andy B unravels this week’s theme with some examples of adapting well and adapting poorly.

He explains how witnessing to French people in German would not work, because they wouldn’t understand you.

He looks at the idea of joining in the bad activities of others in order to witness to them. 
This, of course, is wrong, because God will never command us to sin.

He challenges us to reach people ‘on their level’, without being two faced, and while remaining true to our self and our identity in Christ.

Adapting our behaviour does not necessitate hiding our faith, as Andy B points out. Others ought to be able to see the light of Christ shining through us.

Andy B

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Introduction

 In this week’s Marriage Matters, Andy B and Jo talk about friends, whether they are friends of the wife, friends of the husband or both or whether they are friendships formed before or after marriage. And Andy and Jo consider how these friendships can affect our marriages for good or bad. Th idea of Friend or Foe comes from wartime and so-called friends could turn out to be enemies of your marriage causing more harm than good, on the other hand a healthy friendship can enhance and strengthen a marriage.

Andy, as usual, makes sense of it all with scripture verses:

• Proverbs 18:24
• 1 Corinthians 15:33
• 1 Corinthians 5:11

Choose your friends wisely!

• Pray for your wife or your husband to make the right friends -Read Praying wife/ Prayer Husband by Stormie Omartian
• Read about friendships in the bible – David and Johnathan & Jesus and his Disciples.
• Check out the Skitguys – Tom & Eddy – who have a lifelong friendship and have even written a book about it - https://skitguys.com/

Andy and Jo were surprised by how much is written about friendships in the bible and Jo could see how the bible shows the importance of healthy friendships.

Andy challenges us to consider our friendships in the light of scripture and to think about whether we have friendships that are detrimental to our marriage.

Andy and Jo

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Andy B begins this week’s episode of Endurance by first explaining what exactly we mean by the mundane with the emoji “meh.” He goes on to compare short-term happiness with the eternal joy of the Lord. Short-term happiness, or pleasure, obviously doesn’t last and could become a bit of an addiction.

He touches on Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, and 1 Thessalonians as he walks us through the difference between being happy and being joyful and what the bible can teach us about the mundane.

Andy B then takes the idea of the Olympics and representing your company and how we wall want to make a difference in the world whether for ourselves or others. But we can easily get hooked into seeking a short-term thrill, or even just a short-term alleviation from the mundanity and chasing the thrill of drinking or partying.

John 3 v 16 points us in the right direction for how we can truly be a part of something where we can make a difference for our own lives and for the lives of others: a relationship with Jesus Christ, because this never fades or spoils. It literally lasts for eternity, providing joy, peace, and hope in this lifetime too.

Andy B

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Introduction
In this week’s Marriage Matters, Andy B and Jo talk about the wider family – Parents, Siblings, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and the in laws and how these family relationships can affect our marriages for good or bad. Jo opens by sharing some family matters found in the bible, the good, the bad and the ugly!

Andy, as usual, makes sense of it all with scripture verses:

•Genesis 1:28
•Matthew 12:46-50

Like Marriage Matters, so does Family matter!

Tips and Resources
•Look out for, and watch, Skit Guys movie - Family Camp.
•Take some time, a year if you can, when you first get married to learn what God wants you to do to serve Him – together - now you’re a married couple.
•Pray – ask God about family relationships and how he wants you to handle them!

The Take Away
Andy notes how the bible tells us to do family very differently from how the world or even the church culture tells us.

Jo has noticed how important family is from Genesis to Revelation!

Andy and Jo

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On my cycle today I ended up at the coast. It’s a beautiful, if rather barren place. But I loved it. The wind was hitting my face. The sound of the waves incredibly relaxing crashing on each other, or the shore below me. It was wonderful – I even met some friendly who each made a point of saying good morning.

I munched on some fig rolls, a few energy tablets, and drank some water, recovering from what, so far, had been a brutal ride, with the direct blowing straight at me!

So often in life we feel as though we’re stuck where we are, whether that is a physical location, or a mental thought we can’t get past. Perhaps its an emotional state that we just can’t shake off or a fear that is always hovering at the corners of our vision.

One time we came to the coast we couldn’t see more than a 100 feet due to a very heavy mist. We’d cycled through it, knowing roughly where we were trying to get to. But that lack of vision wasn’t there today, because I could see, almost completely unhindered, to the horizon.

Whatever you’re going through it will pass. Feelings change and situations move, just like the tide, the wind and the mist.

Sometimes it feels as though the waves of life are simply too strong for us. But, if you’re feeling rather choppy water, like I could see in the sera today, take it to Jesus – He is ready and willing to help you to either find calmer water, or hold your hand through the rougher stuff.

Whatever season of life you find yourself in today, be assured that seasons ‘are always a changin’.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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