Ramblings along the narrow way

Today was one of those days where I’m glad to be alive. Tim, a good friend of mine is getting married tomorrow and we went through the motions of its rehersal this evening. He and his fiancee make a wonderful couple and, whilst I’m no expert in these matters, I think they know what they’re doing. It was fascinating just watching people milling around, doing flowers, setting up refreshments, as well as absorbing the information required for me to do my part tomorrow. Saying that, even if it doesn’t all go completely to plan, as long as this is the start of a blessed lifelong special relationship, it’ll be a perfect day.

For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8

In this evening’s violin lesson, I started off being challenged to play various scales from memory. I started off OK with G and A major, but came unstuck on a chromatic starting on G! The rest of the lesson was in a similar vein, with a revision of most of the stuff I’ve learnt over the past few months to see what I remember, and also to see if I’ve improved. My teacher reckons I’m a lot better than even just a month or so ago. I’m not entirely convinced, but I’ll take her word for it. 🙂

Well, after a week away feeling ill, and many weeks with dodgy ankles, tonight’s football game felt normal for once! No longer were my ankles feeling fragile, nor was my immune system fighting off an infection. The only reason I couldn’t run around the pitch like everyone else was because I’m hopelessly unfit! Saying that, I managed to score a cracking goal by a combination of fluke and er…fluke. 🙂 Oh well, things are looking up!

As Abraham came before God to pray for Sodom and Gomorrah, a number of things are can be seen, things which should affect our prayers.

To start with, Abraham is prompted by God. God let’s Abraham know what will happen to the cities on the plain, that for their sins he will destroy them, and lays it on Abraham’s heart to plead for them. We should be careful that our own prayers are prompted by God.

Abraham’s prayer is specific, he does not speak in general terms. He addresses God about the righteous and the wicked. He knows the mind of God, knowing that God is righteous and knowing that appeals to God to spare the righteous. We should seek to know the mind of God, to know his will , through his word, that we might be specific in our prayers.

He also perseveres. This is not to say he is presumptious in asking what he wants, but that humbly persists, seeking God’s will. We should earnestly pray to God, seeking his will and persevering humbly.

An interesting, if slightly busy day. First port of call was ABC Music in Kew to source a replacement digital piano for the church. The main considerations were quality of tone, as this instrument was to be used to aide worship, and compact size, so it would fit where it would be used. As such, I’d shortlisted a Roland EP-760, even though I’d never seen or touched one. On arrivial I headed directly to the model they had on display and, after obtaining permission, gave it a try – I thought it was perfect. Only issue was the price, quite a bit more expensive than prices I’d seen online in other shops. This was mentioned to the assistant who asked where I’d seen it – I mentioned the online store and he duly checked it to verify (after all, I could just pluck numbers out of the air otherwise!) He said they’d try to match it, but needed to check with those in the know and disappeared to find out. I was very pleasantly surprised when he returned to say they’d match it, and I left the store with keyboard (and bits) under arm, after paying for it obviously, a very happy customer.

Went down to Hounslow to play some snooker in the afternoon with David – I think he’s getting better, 3-3 frames. A draw!

Spent the evening at Uxbridge Road Tabernacle to listen to a talk on “Men and women”, and how the worldview of the bible on sexuality differed from the view of the world – specifically the media. An interesting contrast of what the bible says men and women should be – holy, godly, virtuous, and what the world through the media suggests – selfish, out for number one. This is not to say everything is obviously black and white, but that Christians need to think about everything they do, that they might do God’s will.

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

William R. Featherston

Well, sold my first item on eBay this evening. I must admit to being fascinated by the whole process. The initial act of putting the item up for auction had a little spark of excitement, and then it all went quiet until a few minutes before the end of the auction! About five minutes before the auction drew to a close, there was a sudden flurry of activity and my item which had stood almost neglected at £1 suddenly shot up in value reaching the final sale price of £2.40. Hopefully, the transaction will proceed smoothly and I’ll have my first eBay rating.

Had a weird rash over the weekend. At first I thought it was an allergy to something I’d eaten and thought nothing of it. However, it kept reappearing over the course of the weekend. Looking back, I’m guessing it was probably a combination of a rather busy week last week and coming into contact with Miriam who had a viral infection of some sort. (The joys of working with children eh?) However, due to it’s wearied state, rather than my body fighting off the infection normally, it turned into a rash instead. After putting up with it for two days, I looked up possible cures on NHS Direct – rest. Finally I decided wanted to shake this, rather irritating, thing off and spend the day resting, so took the day off work. In the process I came across the following passage.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord�s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don�t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Lk 10:38-42

Maybe I should spend more resting and listening at the feet of Jesus instead of rushing to and fro?

All good gifts around us
Are sent from heav’n above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all his love. Matthias Claudius

Another year, another harvest. Despite the regularity, if anything, because of the regularity, God deserves all thanks and praise for providing us with everything we need.

Our very position in the universe, with the extraordinary conditions suitable for life. The configuration of the sun, the earth’s position in orbit, the earth’s atmospheric composition, the list is endless.

God didn’t create the universe and leave it running like a clockwork toy though. God the Son sustains it moment by moment graciously providing us with everything we need. This in itself would seem amazing until we realise we have disobeyed God’s laws which are for our good. This disobedience would justify God’s withdrawal of his grace leaving us only with his wrath, yet he continues to sustain us for a season.

More amazingly, just as God provided a sacrifice for Abraham, he provides a saviour who can deal with our sin. God the Son became a man to die on a cross, to take on the sins of his people, of all who believe in him. The creator and sustainer became our saviour, our substitute, that we might be put right with God.

A rather busy Saturday to end a rather busy week! Woke up fairly early and wandered down to the local sorting office to pick up a parcel – a new Canon EF 50mm/f1.8 II lens. Hopefully this lens will give me the added flexibility of taking indoor photos without flash, albeit it all at 50mm focal length. Should be good for weddings and other indoor places where light may be low, but flash photography is undesirable.
I then set about cooking myself some lunch and a chilli at the same time. The lunch was for immediate consumption, whereas the chilli was for the evening.
After lunch, I left the chilli simmering and started to sort out Colin’s hard disks. Basically he had data on various hard disks but couldn’t work out how to access them on his own compouter, so I plugged them into mine and slurped the data onto CD-Rs. Somewhere along the line, Sarah picked up the chilli and took it to Hayes Town Chapel.
It was soon time to head up to Hayes Town Chapel myself to join them in their Harvest supper, remembering that all good gifts come from God. There was a very good spread, some interesting conversations and I didn’t have to take any chilli home. Result. 🙂
Spent the remainder of the evening round Sarah’s just chilling and chatting.
Phew!

Q: What is the preface to the ten commandments?
A: The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Q: What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
A: The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, That because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.

Q: Which is the first commandment?
A: The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Q: What is required in the first commandment?
A: The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God, and to worship and glorify him accordingly.

Q: What is forbidden in the first commandment?
A: The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God, and our God; and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone.

Q: What are specially taught by these words before me in the first commandment?
A: These words before me in the first commandment teach us, That God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other god.

(Questions XLIII, XLIV, XLV, XLVI, XLVII and XLVIII from the Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Well, if this article at The Register is anything to go by.

Boys who only experimented with vice did not increase their likelihood of depression. But girls only had to have sex to bring on a threefold increase in their chances of becoming depressed compared to the abstainers. A two-fold increase was experienced by those girls who experimented with drugs and alcohol.

Maybe it’s time we realised that educating teenagers purely about the physical aspects of sex is not the way forward. We owe it to them to educate them about the emotional, relationship, aspects of sex. They might then be able to understand why in the bible, God tells us that the full potential of sex can only truly be fulfilled in marriage, a life-long committed relationship.

When I heard this story on the radio this morning, I thought it was faintly ridiculous. Some of the bishops in the Church of England say this would be a “public act of institutional repentance”, as if such a thing were possible.

How can anyone apologise on behalf of someone else? It’s as silly as me hitting someone and someone else apologising on my behalf – even though I might not be sorry.

In addition, who has been wronged? To apologise to Muslim leaders would make out the war was perpetrated specifically against Muslims. Even the most critical opponents to the war, if they know what they’re talking about, knows it was not a war against Muslims for being Muslim.

So we’re having people apologise on behalf of others, to people who quite possibly have not been wronged. Does this appear even slightly silly to these bishops?

Argghhh, even though I’m not an Anglican, but a non-conformist, most people I know don’t see the distinction and I get associated with this show of stupidity. More importantly, these bishops claim to represent Christ and his church. Grrr…. 🙁

Unlike British culture today, a person’s name in the bible usually meant something. This is distinctly apparent when God promises Abram a son.

Firstly, God refers to himself as God Almighty, El Shaddai. This title alone conveys the omnipotence of God. This is a God who can do what humanly seems impossible.

Abram’s name is changed to Abraham. From being “exalted father”, he becomes “father of a multitude”. This is to show the covenant which God makes with Abraham. God promises Abraham a son, that through this son, Abraham will become the father of a great nation, a populous nation. A line of kings would be descended, and ultimately the King of Kings and Lord of Lords would be born through this lineage. God was seeing through his plan of salvation.

Sarai is given the name Sarah, from “my princess” to “princess”. Again, this has a similar function to Abraham’s naming. She is to become the princess of a nation, the start of a line of kings, rather than just a matriarch of a family.

Finally, the name of their son is significant. Isaac means “laughter”, and at his announcement there was laughter of incredulity from his parents, yet when he was born, the laughter was that of joy. God had made his promise and kept it.

Whilst our given names today may not say much about us, if we call ourselves Christians do we behave as though we are Christ’s?