Encourage the Good

We do not spend time and give to people because of their potential. We do not engage in student ministry primarily because we are working with the leaders of tomorrow but because we care about the youth of today. 

In the economy of God many of these young men and women will have a growing influence but we can never predict what the future holds. Our primary motivation is not strategic significance but love. Some acts of kindness and generosity have implications through the generations.

I do not expect to see either my children or my parents all the time but I do not enjoy not seeing being able to see them at all. The problem with having family scattered around the globe is that it tends to be a famine or a feast.

Paul writing to the Philippians tells them that he has learned the secret of being content in every situation. He is commenting on his circumstances but doing so in the context of an important relationship that had been interrupted and has now been restored. 

The recipe for contentment that Paul is talking about is not circumstantial. He has experienced both times of plenty and of need. He is familiar with the famine and the feast. I find it much easier to be happy with my lot in times of abundance. 

Little Canada was founded by Jean-Louis Brenninkmeijer an immigrant who had a vision to build a model world inspired by a visit to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg. He reached out to model railway clubs to try to find people with the skills to develop the idea. He met Dave MacLean a civil engineer who had a life long passion for model railways. 

I am always interested in the collaboration that can emerge when people with vision have the humility to recognise their limitations and seek specialist help and technical expertise. In this case their shared enthusiasm has grown a community that has opened a world.

One of the things which I have remarked on during this long and difficult pandemic is that we are all in the same storm but we are not all in the same boat. The impact of covid 19 has varied enormously through geographic, ethnicity, personal circumstance and life stage.

We are particularly concerned about the disproportionate impact of the past two years on young people, especially those in their mid-teens to early twenties. While COVID interrupted life in some way for all of us, it has deprived many young people of experiences that will never come their way again.

We are committed to finding more opportunities to reach those we have missed and to bless those who have missed out.

The gospels remind us that faith can grow in the middle of storms when we encounter Jesus. 

 From our earliest experience of teams being picked in the playground at school we learn that being big, fast, strong, skilful, funny or popular are the qualities that get you chosen. 

God’s selection process does not follow the same pattern.

Today I am thankful for the grace of God. I am grateful that God’s choice is not based on my qualifications but is rooted in his great love.

I am thankful that being unqualified is not the same as being disqualified. I appreciate being called into a team and the privilege of playing together.

If by some chance we are involved in some thing of significance in our lives and service, the credit for that belongs to the one who chose us. If it all goes wrong and our best efforts turn to custard we have one who is well able to handle that as well.

I have very mixed feelings as we come to the start of another year. 

2021 has not been an easy year for many of us. There have been highlights and celebrations of course and we give thanks for these. But for me the year has been overshadowed by disruption, disappointment, deception, division and despair.

I pray that as we enter 2022 we will know the Lord’s mercy, truth, light and power and that this will frame our perspective as we go forward together.

And that we will not lose heart.

The Niagara Falls are breathtaking but white water can also be scary

I have spent a little bit of time on the Amazon. It is a lot wider than the Niagara River and 20% of the fresh water in the world flows through it. As the Amazon meanders it continually adjusts it’s course so that charts are out of date almost as soon as they are published. On flatter land water tends to follow the line of least resistance but at times of changes in elevation or the headwaters in the mountains it behaves differently. 

When under pressure the river has drive, direction and depth.

I have lost the ability to feel instinctively at home anywhere.

The flip side of my own sense of misplacement is that I do feel a little at home everywhere. This is also the nature of heavenly citizenship, we have authority given to us to go everywhere from the one who has had all authority given to Him. We become all things to all people to live out the good news right in the middle of their lives, in a language they can read. 

Philemon is a short, personal letter that Paul and Timothy wrote to a friend and fellow worker. It is interesting that Paul does not mention his being an apostle in this epistle but rather greets Philemon as their dear friend.

I strongly believe that friendship is the basic building block of effective and fruitful teamwork and meaningful community.

The gospel is advanced by groups of friends who work together for a season and continue to care for each other when that time of closer collaboration comes to an end. I was struck again by the message of this letter written by friends to friends. 

Yesterday my friend Arlen was helpfully commenting that having physical or geographical limitations does not mean that we are not able to have a significant impact. The key thing is not what constraints are placed on us but in how we respond to them. There is always the potential to find opportunity and to encourage the good no matter how daunting and difficult our situation.

Some of the best and purest wild honey can be discovered in clefts and crannies on rock faces and in caves. The sweetest substance found in some hard places.