Is It Safe?

Well it's time for my bi-annual scare. No sleeping in for me! Come 10:45 AM I have to be at that place that induces primal fear in all of us - the dentist!

ARGH! I don't think anyone can see that scene from Marathon Man and go to the dentists without just a little apprehension in their guts. So here for all of you are the observations I have made during visits to the dentists that make me... uneasy:

1. When they do X Rays, they say it's perfectly safe... then set the timer and run as fast as they can out of the room leaving you pinned down by a heavy sheet of lead padding!
2. When doing any kind of treatment in your mouth, they always pump way too much water in to clear out any loose material. I swallow back so much water, I keep thinking I'm going to drown.
3. I very rarely need anything doing... but once I missed an appointment and had to reschedule. Strangely by coincidence I apparently needed a filling. Guess they get their pound of flesh (or enamel) out of you one way or another!
4. My dad has very rarely been to the dentist and yet has a fine set of teeth. Mum regularly goes and... well, lets just say she isn't so fortunate!
5. My dentist doesn't like using local anaesthetic and will only freeze you up for REALLY deep fillings and stuff. So I have to sit there and take it (actually I don't mind that so much, it's the only time I get to act like a hard man).
6. The one occasion that the dentist DID use anaesthetic, it was completely ineffective and I had to be given more than the required dosage. Unfortunately, it then had triple the effect effect and I couldn't feel most of my mouth... or my tongue!
7. Every time I sit in the chair, I feel like Captain Kirk! I end up grabbing the armrests and holding on for dear life as the dentist decides to probe my mouth with his tools and go on a 5 minute mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

I'm starting to think my Dad's got the right idea. Funny man my Dad (sometimes unintentionally). Conscious that everyone in my family except me wears glasses, I decided to try and gauge how long I had before it became likely I'd need them. I asked Mum when she first started to need glasses... and she told me it was in her early teens - just like my sister. So I asked my Dad when his eyesight began to deteriorate... and he told me "Ooh it was about the same time I married your Mum!" Class line and he didn't even register what he himself said. Excellent.

So please pray for me as I step through the dreaded portal tomorrow. I think my X Ray's are due, so I will probably glow in the dark for a week!

Blessings

Nick

UPDATE:

Well that went relatively well, no damage as usual... X Rays are next time so I'm not going to be a nightlight for now!

N

Tolerance? Ah... Is that What You Call It?

I've just been reading the BBC News coverage regarding the trial of Abdul Rahman - an Islamic convert to Christianity. This story is probably only in the news because Afghanistan is a country that has had it's politics and power structure uprooted by the West. Sharia Law was in place under the Taliban and it is still the law under the new administration. This would have happened no matter who was in power... our attention has only been drawn to it because of recent political history.

Abdul Rahman is facing the death penalty.

What crime has he committed? How has he transgressed? What unspeakable evil has he unleashed on his community that leads them to demand his life from him.

It's simple. He just chose to follow a different belief. Under Islamic Sharia law, any person who rejects Islam in favour of any other religion and refuses to have second thoughts is punishable by death.

Anyway, from the article I have linked above, I wanted to highlight some comments made by the trial judge - Ansarullah Mawlafizada:

"The Prophet Mohamed has said several times that those who convert from Islam should be killed if they refuse to come back"

and...

"Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, kindness and integrity. That is why we have told him if he regrets what he did, than we will forgive him"

How can any man hope to utter both those sentences in the same statement, and expect to be treated as anything other than an imbecile? Tolerance means respecting the right of every individual to find their own path. It is not conditional as to whether or not you manage to bully them back into your way of thinking. By all means be a sadistic persecutor and butcher people who don't adhere to your belief system, if you must. However, do not presume to take the moral high ground about it and spout false declarations of how tolerant and understanding you are at the same time. There is a word for that - hypocrisy.

Abdul Rahman does not deserve death.

Perhaps Western and Islamic interpretations of the word tolerance, differ somehow. This is how the dictionary defines the word:

1. The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others.
2. Leeway for variation from a standard.
3. The permissible deviation from a specified value of a structural dimension, often expressed as a percent.
4. The capacity to endure hardship or pain.
5. Medicine: Physiological resistance to a poison.
6. The capacity to absorb a drug continuously or in large doses without adverse effect; diminution in the response to a drug after prolonged use.
7. Acceptance of a tissue graft or transplant without immunological rejection.
8. Unresponsiveness to an antigen that normally produces an immunological reaction.
9. The ability of an organism to resist or survive infection by a parasitic or pathogenic organism.
   

In light of that definition, particular the first two meanings that I highlighted... how does the approach of Sharia Law in this instance, even come close to being defined as "tolerant"? Perhaps the followers who support these actions see Christianity as a parasitic or pathogenic organism and tolerance for them means the destruction of that organism when it crosses their borders.

Idiots.

I completely understood the complaints of Muslims over the Mohamed cartoons issue. Although I respected the rights of the media to express themselves through free speech... I completely empathised with the anger of seeing a person you value or revere, being portrayed in a negative manner. The difference is that where Mohamed in spin doctor fashion legislated against it... Jesus Christ was prepared to endure it - even to the point of death.

Just days after the furore of the cartoons we had the incident in London of a young man protesting in a bomb harness. Ironically when his friends defended him against police charges, they did so under the banner of free speech. Hello? Were they missing something there? How can you criticise the offence caused by the use of free speech in one breath and with the very next one attempt to justify your own offence by quoting the same mantra of free speech?

Either you believe in free speech or you don't! Either you believe in tolerance or you don't!

I don't wish evil on those who seek to rob Mr Rahman of his life. I pray that they repent of their unforgiving attitude. I pray that they relent from the course of action they so avidly pursue. Should they fail in this, I pray that God may have mercy on their souls - should they be wise enough to one day seek his forgiveness.

To all Christians reading this, pray for Abdul Rahman. Thank God for his faithful witness. Pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen him for whatever he has to face... even if that sadly means death. Pray that the strength he is displaying through his trials will encourage and inspire other Christians in Afghanistan and around the world to stand firm in their beliefs. We face very little cost in the UK for having our beliefs, it is only right that we stand side by side with those who suffer. Perhaps WE should go to Trafalgar Square and protest to the world's cameras. Finally, may undecided people who see his example ask questions about why a man might consider losing his life for having a belief.

Pray for forgiveness for his persecutors.

Regards

N

Update as of 27th March:

Afghanistan officials appear to be backing down following international pressure. This is wonderful news. News agencies seem to be explaining the reasoning behind this decision as a combination of different factors. Mr Rahman's family believe he suffers from mental illness, and claim that he appears to hear voices (how much of this is true and how much is actually derived from his relationship with God through the Holy Spirit remains to be seen). He is also of disputable nationality and there is a lack of evidence in the case (although when has that stopped people persecuting Christ and his followers. Jesus himself was the subject of a "fit up", after all).

It is now the people of Afghanistan who are enraged. Several hundred hardliners are quite literally baying for this man's blood - men of violence. If the Koran demands the life of a human being simply because they choose to follow another path then it is the basis of a fundamentally flawed belief system. There has to be lee way. One of God's greatest gifts to mankind is free will. Yes... He wants us to follow Him, but no He will never force us against our will. God does not want an army of automatons.

These men, Mohamed, the Koran... none of them have a valid stake in determining whether this man dies or not. The Bible says it is appointed for man to die once and then the judgement. If Islam really has the best interests of this man at heart, then why speed his eternal judgement by slaying him?

FINAL Update (hopefully)

Decency, common sense and righteousness appear to have prevailed. Abdul Rahman is a free man. Some people have callously attacked his request for asylum. However, no one can deny he has a valid case. even though his own Government released him... a significant amount of his own fellow countrymen want him dead.

Thank you to all who prayed.

N

The Road Back to Blessing

While I had been struggling over the issue of relationships (thanks to Hope, Cassie and Connie's kind responses), I went into church on Monday to pray through it on my own. While I was there I stumbled across this passage in Jeremiah 31:

"I have surely heard Ephraim's moaning:

'You disciplined me like an unruly calf,

and I have been disciplined.

Restore me, and I will return,

because you are the LORD my God.

After I strayed,

I repented;

after I came to understand,

I beat my breast.

I was ashamed and humiliated

because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'

Is not Ephraim my dear son,

the child in whom I delight?

Though I often speak against him,

I still remember him.

Therefore my heart yearns for him;

I have great compassion for him,"

declares the LORD.

"Set up road signs;

put up guideposts.

Take note of the highway,

the road that you take.

Return, O Virgin Israel,

return to your towns.

I know I'm guilty of moaning at God. I know I was led to the wilderness for a reason, I figure maybe I was exiled from relationships for disobedience. A long time ago I was in a serious relationship and I didn't get out when I clearly should have; so intent was I on fixing the other person's life scenario, that I neglected my own well being and spiritual/psychological health as a person. I was woefully ignorant of God... trying to flog a dead horse. By his grace and his mercy, God pulled me out of that situation and sat me down for a deep talk. He convicted me, he challenged me, he spoke of promises and even gave me hints of things to come. I was impatient and chased them down and God led me into the wilderness. Last year he tested me bitterly, to see if I would choose selfish desire over obeying him. Those of you who were with me at that time, know that it was an extremely hard time for me... but I came through. Since that time I have been through periods where I'm great... and other times when I moan at God... just like the tribe of Ephraim in the above passage.

I have learned some of the lessons that God required me to understand before moving on... but by no means would I boast of having learned them all.

I feel God wants to return me to a place of blessing, I also feel he is challenging me to look into the events in my life that led me to exile in the first place. When Jeremiah revealed the above message to God's people... it was just prior to the exile. He was in effect telling them to leave practical markers in the desert to help them return when their period of discipline was over. Obviously I can't physically go back in time and do that for myself, but I feel that God wants me to examine my past and look at the points that led me out into the wilderness. There already are emotional markers laid down - psychological, spiritual and physical events that shaped my walk until now. By backtracking and praying through them, I hope to be restored to a place where The Lord can fulfill his promises.

I was also encouraged by reading a short story by Max Lucado in "When God Whispers Your Name". He pointed out the practical aspects of Moses' exile in the desert. Moses as you may recall was a man of authority in Egypt. that all changed when he killed an Egyptian who was abusing a Hebrew. Moses was forced to flee out into the desert. He resigned himself to living a quiet life - that of a shepherd, out in the wilderness. however as Max pointed out... Moses learned the crafts of the desert while living in the wild. Moses as a young man was hot headed, arrogant and inexperienced. Moses as an elderly man had learned patience... and despite his frailty had a lifetime's knowledge of desert survival... not to mention the newly acquired assurance of God.

Just looking at some of the things I said about relationships when I was younger, I was arrogant. Watching my friends stumble and fall, I proudly said to myself that I could show them how it was done... as if it was my job. How pompous was I? I've stumbled. I've been picked up. I'm in a place where the receipt of such promises seems to fade into the distance day by day... but God is as good as his word... even if I am not.

Romans teaches us that Abraham received what was promised through faith... even though his body was in the Bible's words "as good as dead". Abraham wobbled but never fell down. He always hoped and trusted in God's fulfillment of his word. Sometimes he tried to force the issue and messed up... but he always trusted good would come eventually. When God speaks... the debate ends.

Sometimes hope seems distant and just a blur on the horizon... but hope is never forlorn where the Lord is concerned.

If you are in the desert, take heart.

God bless

Nick - hopefully homeward bound.

Attitudes Towards Christian Singletons

For the last couple of weeks I've been having it a little rough at church. There has been a great deal of focus on marriage... we have had a few couples coming in for the reading of their wedding bans. It's always the prayers that get me. On the first occasion the couplers were prayed for, the person doing the prayers pointed out the blessings that married couples experience and how they wished all those blessings to be passed to the couples in their futures together. All well and good in itself, except for the fact that everyone in the building was married or engaged except for a male student, a schoolgirl and... me. Last week was worse because the visiting preacher prayed for couples who are planning to get married, newlyweds and for those who are struggling in their marriage.

None of that I have a problem with... except for the notable exclusion of praying for people who AREN'T in a relationship at all. Apparently for some reason us it appears that single people are often not counted as entities when in fact our needs are just as valid as people who are in couples. I would argue that some (not all) people in troubled relationships need to count their blessings. So long as they are with the right person, what they have been given is an incredible gift. Those of us who have been denied such treasures know their worth.

I have been in a wrong relationship and I have learned the value of solitude; yet I have also seen people in right relationships and have learned by gazing from outside the window, the value of true companionship between two people who love one another. This is all the more obvious to me having had proper, balanced love withheld from me when I was dating the wrong person.

Instead of lecturing one another or bitterly complaining from the sanctity of our respective pedestals about how we think others should behave or what they should realistically expect from life, we should look to how we can positively help their situation through prayer or practicality. We would do well... all of us - wherever we are, to mark Paul's words to the Colossians:

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:12-17

Because compassion is a rare commodity and we need it these days more than ever! We need hearts of flesh and blood, not hearts of stone... that are beaten down with "compassion fatigue".

We need to mutually recognise one another's blessings and struggles if we are to help one another move on.

Bear with one another.

Regards

N

Bits & Bobs

My sister was knocked off her bicycle in London the other day. I would post up a few pictures, but I don't think she really wants me to. Needless to say she looks like she's been in the ring with Tyson... although I assure you if that were the case, he'd have come off MUCH worse... I talk from my own experience as a sibling. In her own words though, she currently looks like Pete Burns - so you can imagine how swollen her face is!

Psycho drivers cutting up cyclists on left hand turns is a trait typical of any sprawling metropolis. I have no love for cities, they are way too claustrophobic for my liking. I prefer to visit them and be blown away by their architecture and scale. They are good in small doses. For the most part, I like to walk down the street with a good deal of personal space... can't be doing with playing sardines on the pavement. I've always felt that packing people tightly into an urban environment is asking for trouble. When people live within that much proximity of one another, I can't help but think that it helps encourage road rage. Without personal space and the ability to get out of the constant gaze peoples faces... I can't help but think it's a contributing factor to road rage and aggressive relations between neighbours.

So here's hoping and praying for a swift recovery for my sis Charlotte!

On a lighter note I was mucking about with Yahoo's music video feature the other night and I was really impressed! Not only can you browse for music video's by your favourite artists, if you are signed into Yahoo... then you can also personalise the video player to suit your own music tastes. this appears to work in a similar way to Amazon's recommendation system. It takes data that you supply it with (in this case, your rating of music videos that Yahoo's player randomly selects) and compares it with songs/artists that other people who rated it well, have also chosen. All I can say is that it's both fantastic and addictive. You can rate things from OK to unmissable and you can even block songs or artists who you find offensive or downright dull. I took great delight in wiping out the entire Westlife back catalogue! I don't think I'll bother sticking Cd's in the computer for a while I've had so much fun!

And finally in totally unrelated news, my habit of having strange and vivid dreams seems to be resurfacing... and it is having noticeable effects on my psyche. Rather annoying effects. There's a rather attractive and seemingly nice girl who works for one of the local estate agents, it's been a pleasant experience passing like ships in the night every evening at the Post Office. However, ever since I had the dream last night I've felt like I should maintain a safe distance. Not out of fear or anything negative. It's just in my dream, I saw a girl who I was very keen on a while ago after a brief encounter... and when I woke up I just felt that showing any interest in any other girl would be wrong and disrespectful. This is CRAZY! I owe no particular loyalty to the girl, to the best of my knowledge she has never reciprocated any of the feelings I had for her... if the poor lass was even aware of how I felt at all... I'm like Mr Invisible here sneaking around in the shadows tying his guts in knots with endless "what ifs" and "maybes". Even if there were hope, she is a long way away. What is wrong with me... no matter how much distance I try to put between myself and any emotional attachment to her... a couple of months later she always seems to crop up in my subconscious! Is there no getting away from this? I feel like Sisyphus!

Any psychologists who can offer advice as to what my subconscious is trying to do to me (apart from drive me insane) are welcome to chip in and offer there opinions... this is damaging my calm!

Normal service will resume shortly...

Favourite advert at present is the Tetley's advert with the guy turning up to a pub fancy dress party that has a movie theme. Not only does he arrive in full replica Roman Armour (presumably as General Maximus from Gladiator), but he turns up with an entire Roman legion with ballistas and catapults to boot! Awesome. that's my style.... all or nothing!

Feeling Out of Place Among Friends

Have you ever had one of those profound moments, where you just see something in the world about you that serves as a commentary of who or where you are as a person? One such moment happened to me a few years ago. I saw a group of ducks, resting on a small bit of shale underneath Gunnings Bridge.

Nothing unusual in that you might well think, except for one small thing. There amongst the Mallards was a Mandarin Duck... a drake in fact - very distinctive in both appearance and sound and very much alone. All the other ducks tolerated him and seem to get on fine at a distance... but he was still alone, one among many. They let him get on with his business, so long as he didn't interfere with theirs.

A friend told me that he'd probably escaped from a local stately home due to the flooding we'd had - 1998 was a bad year for floods in the Midlands. I thought this was cool, to have an unusual bird wandering in the river... maybe he could hook up with a lady Mallard and make a go of it... a bit of cross species interaction. Sue told me that she thought that Mandarins were too far removed from Mallards to interbreed... and that the other ducks would probably reject him. This made me feel incredibly sad and the feeling has never left me. I think I know why now... because several years down the road... I can see I have travelled a similar path to that Mandarin.

After many years of being trapped in an oppressive relationship, I too found my freedom. I paddled away down the river of life... and found the other ducks. However, most of them made it clear that I was to be tolerated as an anomaly... and not accepted as one of their own. Yeah... I'm a duck and they are ducks, we all do duck like things... we worship the same duck God (Daffy of course! Sorry, just kidding Lord), but as far as many of them are concerned - that is where the similarities end.

What is the point of achieving freedom... of mixing with other people, if they want you to remain on the fringe - just because according to their sociological pigeon-holing, that is where they believe you should be?

That's not freedom.

Having tasted the fresh air and swum in clean waters, I naturally want to do the things that come naturally to me. However it is infuriating when those around me say "No, you are a Nick - you belong here... you do this, you do that. You leave all the relationship stuff to us Mallards. You!? You don't even belong here... goodness only knows where you came from, but you can stay here as long as you dance to the tune we set for you."

I'm not settling for that... and do you know, I think that's why a lot of people do their worst to constrain me all the more.

From a psychological and social perspective, my walk with humanity has been much harder than my walk with Christ. When people become Christians they turn the back on the ways of the World. I had to do more than that, I had to turn my back on the ways of my own little world too. We are on trains heading for the same station.... we are all hurtling away from the sins of our past and heading for the same destination in Christ - but oh how I wish I could join you guys on your train.... but your train never ever seems to stop at the same stations as me.... so how can I make the switch?

OK it's a crude and very thick analogy, but that's what it feels like. Staring across through the window of your empty train carriage and seeing everyone else you know on another train having the time of their lives and waving to you occasionally. That's how it is. That is not how it can stay, or to quote Bruce Hornsby:

They say hey little boy you can't go

Where the others go

'Cause you don't look like they do

Said hey old man how can you stand

To think that way

Did you really think about it

Before you made the rules

He said, Son:

That's just the way it is

Some things will never change

That's just the way it is

But don't you believe them

...and I won't!

I'm not an aberration and neither are you.

Observations and Examinations

I wanted to share with you some things that occurred to me at Church yesterday morning...

If eyes do not see:

The healer cannot examine a wound or illness to be able to diagnose it correctly.
The farmer will stumble and sow seed in bad places.
The warrior will lash out and may wound allies.

If fists are clenched:

The healer cannot administer medicine, or manipulate surgical equipment.
The farmer cannot sow seed, nor reap the harvest.
The warrior cannot hold wield his weaponry.

If the heart is hard:

The healer may give up on a patient earlier than they should.
The farmer may not bother to rise out of bed to tend the crops.
The warrior becomes a mercenary or a bully fighting only for lesser causes.


There are several reasons why the eyes do not see. Perhaps through hypocrisy, we have a log in our own eye... and we are blinded in such a way as to stop us following our calling like we should. Perhaps we are afraid... and we have closed our eyes so that we can shut out the potential monsters that terrify us. Or perhaps we are downcast through lack of confidence and are filled with despair about the future... preferring only to look at our toes, not that which rises to meet us.

We clench our fists when we are angry... but there are many reasons we feel angry. We may be jealous, may feel hard done by, may harbour resentment due to ill relations to those around us... or perhaps we are even filled with self loathing.

Our heart becomes hard when we do not listen to God... and when we shut out other people - who are made in the image of God. It can come from arrogant pride (believing ourselves to always be in the right), stubbornness (continual resistance to God's Spirit), or from being worn out by refusing to rest when we are spent.

Not all of the descriptions above would class us as a "bad person" according to the World's eyes... but all of them if left unchecked, lead to damage and disruption to our calling and spiritual well being.

If you know in your heart you are hypocritical, then remember Jesus' words:

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

If you know in your heart that you harbour resentment or unforgiveness for someone around you:

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

If you know deep down that you have become callous or hard hearted towards God... and want to change that... if you ask it of God know this:

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

If you know in your heart that you are afraid, lacking in self confidence... or are filled with self loathing... then hear these words:

"Be still, and know that I am God"

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!"

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing"

"The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him"

Finally, I should add... when I say these things, I do not do it lightly or flippantly. In all truth and honesty I have at some point of my walk been guilty of and wrestled with all of the things I have mentioned. In some cases I still struggle. I actually typed the first half of this last night... but did not feel in a position to either finish or publish it. However having passed that hurdle, I felt it equally important to show people that I share in the fellowship of their struggles,as well as showing ways through scripture how to overcome.

I pray God grants us all the strength to walk in his light and resist the call of the dark.

Blessings

Nick

Altered Transmissions

On Sunday, I looked at the Transfiguration... how in order to understand the will of God, we have to look at it through the person of Jesus (by the power of the Holy Spirit) - the key to our salvation and growth as Christians.

I would like to turn that completely on it's head and look at it from another angle.

Having "tasted and seen that the Lord id good" for ourselves, we naturally have a desire for other people to discover the joy of coming to God through Christ and the Gospel message too.

How though?

Something Alan Boddington occasionally says, reveals a great deal of how we should go about doing this... but it isn't so much of a "doing" thing, as a "being" thing.

What Alan says (and I have said it here myself before), is that for some people the closest thing they have to Jesus is us. They may never get closer to knowing God... than what they know and experience of us.

This is one reason we are called to righteousness. Paul describes us as Christ's ambassadors:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

The more we are exposed to God, the more we reflect him. The more we absorb of His nature... the more we emit of Him in our characters.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:17-18

If we are merely Sunday Christians, and keep our worship and passion for him indoors - all the people will see of him is a brick wall... and all they will hear is the soft murmur of voices from within a building, for:

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-17

We read about the Transfiguration... but we need to be transfigured ourselves. To be Christ's ambassadors, we need to take on the likeness of Christ. I have seen firsthand what the power of that nature can do. It changes peoples lives. The proud are repelled by it, whilst the humble are attracted to it. The self righteous shun people who display such a nature, but those who are lost or in need embrace them... as one embraces a lifeline.

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father." Phiilippians 2:1-11

Having the security of knowing we are one with God, releases us from the need to please our own ego. We can be more like Jesus. We can walk alongside people in their suffering, we can help them let Christ bear their burdens.

"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing." Philippians 2:12-16

My prayer is that God will enable you and I to live our lives in His strength according to His will.

Blessings

Nick