Ramblings along the narrow way

Spent this evening trying to explain what Jesus Christ went through on the cross to the young people at the church youth club this evening. At one level they understood the horror of being physically nailed to a wooden cross, with all the implications of pain and eventual asphixiation. I’m not sure any of them remotely understood the other level of Jesus Christ taking on the sins of the elect and the punishment for their sin, even though he himself was without sin (as described in Isaiah 53). Even considering how, because God is holy and demands justice, every sinner is deserving of hell. I guess the popular theology of the world doesn’t have sin and hell in its vocabulary and I was assuming too much. Maybe I just didn’t explain it adequately enough…Yet when I think how wonderful and amazing is the whole account, in the Bible, of God becoming a man, living as a man, being tempted as a man, yet living perfectly as no man had ever done and ultimately taking on the sins of all who believe. I cannot even consider that I would keep this to myself, but that I must endeavour to explain this to a world in need of salvation as best I can, yet relying on God to use my inadequate words for his glory. I guess in the end, I don’t know what goes on in the minds of those around me, it’s between them and God.
In the words of Charles Wesley…

O that the world might taste and see
The riches of His grace!
The arms of love that compass me
Would all mankind embrace.

…

His only righteousness I show,
His saving grace proclaim;
‘Tis all my business here below
To cry “Behold the Lamb!”

Oh that the world (including the young people) might taste and see…

“In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.
The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.
They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.” (NIV)

Interesting evening on the football pitch! For some reason, after running around for about ten minutes, I was struggling for breath! This of course meant I was pretty much useless as a team member and yet somehow I scored a goal. Allegedly, the humidity was quite high this evening, which accounted for the shortness of breath. Ah well, learn something new every day. Many apologies for the poor performance.

As Christians, we should not be surprised the world opposes us. The whole basis of Christianity is completely different from the world and its religions. The world says humanity is good enough that our good works will make us acceptable with God, this is common to the major religions of the world, but Christianity says we cannot make ourselves acceptable to God and only the work of Jesus Christ can save us from the damnation due for our sins. As such, the world opposed Jesus Christ who came to save those who would put their faith in him, and consequently the world opposes those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself says that those who oppose him, ultimately oppose God the Father.
This is not to say Christians should behave in such a manner as to justly deserve opposition. We are not called to be eccentric, oddballs who seek to be persecuted by being annoying for the sake of being persecuted, but we will experience persecution if we live according to Christ. For we are called to teach the words of Christ, which the world will not accept.
Will you reject the words of Christ, along with the rest of the world, or will you listen to his words?

I’m writing this from the bedroom I grew up in. Much of Bristol hasn’t changed, while quite a bit has changed. My parents still live in the same house my siblings and I grew up in, whereas Dave is now living around the corner from my parents.
The day was spent mostly lazing around, with a take-away meal in the evening to celebrate my mum’s birthday. Most of the Yuen clan were there as well, as well as one or two others. After the meal, various discussions arose, with some interesting topics.
Sometimes it’s just nice to get away from the usual day-to-day existence in London and have a change in scenery. It’s even nicer to be able to have that change of scenery with the family. A good day. 🙂

…or should that be Naomi?
The bible study this evening was a brief overview of the book of Ruth, as Ron is planning on going through it in depth in the next few bible studies. The book of Ruth tells of a family, living at the time of the Judges, a period of uncertainty and relativisim, who through their trials and tribulations suffer great loss.
Yet, it also tells of the great grace of God and his loving kindness, as the family find joy and peace through a kinsman redeemer.
Not only is God working at the level of this family, but he is working on a much greater level, because through Ruth, God plants the seeds of certainty and the truth, from which the monarchy of Israel is to be established, and ultimately, bring about the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.

I’ve finally decided I’m going to use Linux as my primary platform for internet use (email, web browsing, etc.), office applications and basically everything besides games. Whilst I’ve had a box with Fedora Core 2 installed on it for the past three or four months, I haven’t really used it in anger. However, with the recent additions to Windows XP of things like DRM, the continuing problem of security holes and the inherant security flaw of logging in with administrator rights, I figure it’s time to change platforms. Hopefully, after the next few weeks of transition, I’ll only be using my Windows box for games. We’ll see.

Another fine evening spent in a sports hall running around an air-filled leather ball! I think my level of fitness is stabilising, as I managed to run around, pretty much, for the whole game. I had a few shots at goal but didn’t score any. The side I was on still won though, so not a complete disaster.

This morning we came across the part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks about the prayer of someone who trusts him. From what he says we can garner a few points:

1. If we trust Christ, then God is our Father. Our approach should be as one who is a child of God:
   1. We can approach readily, he should be our first resort. No matter how large, or how small our reasons for prayer.
   2. We should approach reverently, as we are approaching the Almighty God, who made everything, and who is thrice holy.
   3. We should approach regularly, just as one would communicate with one’s earthly father regularly, so we can communicate with our heavenly Father regularly.

2. We should ask him for all things, from the greatest spiritual needs, to the smallest physical needs. He is the provider of all things.
3. We should be willing to accept the answer God gives us. What we want isn’t necessarily what we need. Even what we think we need isn’t what we truly need. God will give us what we really need.

Whew what a warm day! I guess technically it’s still Summer and it’s only just started September, but I guess this makes up for the rather poor Summer we’ve had so far. A rather scorching 27°C (or possibly higher!)
What better way to spend such a glorious day than on the North Downs? A very pleasant day was spent wandering around Box Hill, taking photos of all and sundry, having a picnic lunch in a warm sunny field and taking in the clear fresh air. I must say, I had expected rain for this ramble and had applied copious amounts of dubbing to my boots to restore their waterproof characteristics, so I was pleasantly surprised by todays rather clement weather. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so I’ll stop talking about it here � There’s a proverbial set of encyclopaedia in my photo album.

I spent most of this evening attempting to fix Robin’s computer. Why oh why is Windows ME so rubbish?! I’ve a good mind to wipe it and put Linux on it…

I think this week I’ve taken the term “Burning the candle at both ends” to a new level. I’m not sure there’s much left of the candle to burn! I think I’ve been out every night this week and I’m shattered! Went round Sarah’s this evening with a few others and watched The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on DVD. Ironically, I think this is the first time I’ve managed to see the whole film without falling asleep, but I think that was because one could get up wander around, get a drink, make comments about the film, make completely random comments and generally find something else to do during the slow moments of the film! Maybe I’m just a Philistine or something, the LoTR is a great trilogy of films and a magnificent achievement, but just a little too long!

“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.”

Phew, the past couple of days have been rather busy! Spent yesterday evening at Nige’s, with a few others, watching Catch me if you can, with Tom Hanks which was actually quite good. Based on a true story, it told of a boy (Frank Abagnale Jr.) who managed to defraud the banks of millions of dollars, with the FBI, represented by Carl Hanratty (Hanks), in pursuit, and eventually catching him. Some of the things Abagnale managed to achieve were quite amazing!

Spent this evening ten-pin bowling with the usual suspects, although the outcome was far from usual! Usually Karen beats us all to a pulp with a relentless merciless campaign. Not sure what happened, but I came top of the pile. Ah well, glory in it while I can. 🙂

Of course all this excitement isn’t helping me to get back into the swing of work after my holidays! I’m still finding it difficult to concentrate. Roll on Autumn, at least I won’t be distracted by good weather for much longer.

Spent August Bank Holiday down at West Wittering with old friends and new friends from churches across London. Although the appointed starting time was rather early, at a rather unpalatable 10am, we got down there at around 11am, which seemed a little more palatable. During the course of the day, I got to chat with friends, both old and new, whilst consuming lunch, playing boules, volleyball and various other things whilst on the beach. (Although, not necessarily all at the same time!) The weather remained dry throughout the day, as well as having some very fine periods. A thoroughly enjoyable day, if not slightly exhausting!

In John 15, Jesus is saying what the hallmarks of a Christian are.

1. We should love God, not in a sentimental shallow way but showing this love by doing what he commands. By being committed to doing his will.
2. We should love others as Jesus loves us:

   1. We should be self-sacrificing, putting other before ourselves, “Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus put us first when he went to the cross, if we are to imiate him, we should put others first.
   2. We should be providing for the needs of others.
   3. We should be purposeful in our love, not being do-gooders and getting in the way, but being truly useful.

Only by doing these things, by putting God and others first, can a person have real joy.