Windy Again

The wind is howling round the house, again. It feels like it hasn’t paused for days. Whining at the windows, rattling the doors, branches scratching like fingernails on a blackboard.

I find the wind exhausting. Here in Scotland it’s rarely a gentle caressing breeze, more of a piercing blast with a bitter edge to it.

The Holy Spirit is likened to the wind, among other images. Is this why he is often ignored or disregarded? We don’t like to have our comfortable seats roughed up. We don’t like our ingrained prejudices buffeted by truth. We don’t like the unpredictability of the wind. We like to make our plans and follow them through.

I’ve got my plans, and the wind of change threatens to disrupt and dismantle them.

Jesus beckoned Peter out of the boat, to walk on the water when it was still turbulent because of the strong winds. Peter responded, and only sank when he became distracted by circumstances.

May I not be distracted by circumstances, but be focused on the face of Jesus and step out of the boat, to go wherever he would take me, today and in the days to come.

Beginning of the Rainbow

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, my grandson Callan whispered quietly as he played with his toys. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again.

We live in a time when families, institutions, nations even, have fallen off the wall. For all the claims of some leaders to have the answer for the future, it is easier to believe that nobody can fix what is going on now.

Peter declared to a discontented mob that the man they nailed to a cross was the Son of God. You don’t get any worse mistake than that. One would think that nobody could fix such a blunder.

Then he claimed that the one they had killed had been brought to life again. We are witnesses to this fact, he said. Peter didn’t risk simply being un-PC. He didn’t risk simply offending a few folk, or even offending the mob. He risked his life.

Peter and the friends of Jesus were witnesses to the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. I am a witness to the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead. When I was at my lowest, Jesus came to me and breathed his Holy Spirit into my deepest being.

I was that Humpty Dumpty. The king’s horses and the king’s men were useless, but the King could restore, could refresh, could renew life in me.

He did it in me. He does it in everyone who comes to him. Our world is broken, but it is not beyond repair. I pray that today I might share this Great News. Jesus is alive and lives to bring life and light to the world he died for.

I don’t need to figure out how he’s going to work this miracle. I just need to trust that he will.

I looked out my prayer window. Barely discernible, especially in my photo, but there nevertheless: the start of a wonderful rainbow. My thoughts were sealed by that rainbow – the sign of the promise of God. He will never leave nor forsake any of us. He is faithful.

This is the Way

A few years ago, I was out for a walk through the woods with Don. As the path narrowed, I led the way and at one point turned to see where Don was, while continuing to walk forward. My foot lodged in a rabbit hole, the momentum of my body carried me on and I sprained an ankle. Ouch.

When Peter had his famous encounter with Jesus after the resurrection on the shores of Galilee, he listened to Jesus’ plans for his future and then looked round and asked what John’s future held. He was told it was none of his business and to concentrate on his own life, keeping his eyes on Jesus.

Comparing ourselves to someone else can lead to envy, but it can also cause us to miss our footing on our own path and either get hurt or get lost and end up on a parallel but different path. It takes discipline to continue to look forward but it is foolish to take our eyes off the road in front. 

Whether you walk to the right or the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ (Isaiah 30:21)

Restoration

When I realize that I have messed up in some way that might have hurt someone’s feelings or my relationship with someone, my every impulse is to go immediately and try to rectify the situation. I can’t just leave it.

Peter had messed up big time, denying his friendship with Jesus. The events of Easter rolled on and I can imagine Peter was in a daze, but with that underlying sick feeling that something is not right. I wonder if he blurted out an apology the first time he saw the risen Jesus – that would seem to fit his character as he often acted on impulse. 

Whether or not he did, Jesus knew his heart and today I’m thinking about the gentle, powerful way that Jesus restored Peter’s self-esteem as they breakfasted together on bbq’d fish. Three times he asked Peter if he loved him, and then he gave him a commission, a responsibility, showing that he hadn’t given up on Peter’s loyalty.

So good to know God never gives up on me, either.

Comfort is King. Really?

The sun beams a smile out of the clear blue sky yet again. Could this be a real summer? Sitting in the cool of my living room (usually the perishing cold...but today pleasantly cool!), I am thinking about the aspirations of most people in the world – to live in the sort of comfort and peace in which I live.

An earthly paradise.

The trouble with that sort of an aim is its short-termism. Jesus calls us to live on the edge, to walk with the poor and marginalised, to feed the hungry, to reach out to those in the gutters, to lobby for those suffering injustice and persecution. He doesn’t call us to settle down into an earthly paradise, nor even to aim to create one for ourselves.

Even in our churches, we can be more concerned with the ambiance of the worship space than with the worship itself – which may in fact be more genuine when we are away from the worship space and mingling with the lost and hurting. 

It’s tempting, and too easy, to settle. It seems to be our default mode – to work out a routine and then settle into it, secure in the boundaries we’ve drawn. 

Peter, alarmed by the figure of Jesus walking on the water, cried out – ‘If it’s you, Lord, tell me to come out of the boat!’ When Jesus confirmed he was indeed Lord, Peter confidently climbed over the side and walked on the water. As long as he kept his focus on Jesus, he continued to walk on water, doing the miraculous not because he was holy or righteous but because his eyes were on and his trust was in Jesus. When he allowed the noisy wind to disturb his calm, he began to sink back into the ordinary, into the natural. Fear overcame faith.

Do not be afraid, God repeats throughout the Bible.

Today, whatever lies before me, I pray that I might keep my eyes on Jesus and step out of the boat. I don’t want to pursue comfort. I want to pursue Jesus.

Glimmering Gold

‘If you could see her through my eyes,’ croons the tavern-keeper in the musical Cabaret. If you could see her through my eyes ...

Deeply embedded in every heart is the gold God put there. In some people, it glistens and shines and is easy to see. In others, dirt encrusts it, and few people even know it’s there.

But God does. And if we try to see others through His eyes, attentive to his voice, we, too, may just catch a glimpse of beauty among the ashes. 

That’s one of the exciting challenges of trying to live a Christian life. Trusting God’s Word, where he says that we all are made in the image of God, and then looking for signs of Him in the lives of others. When we see a glimmer of gold, it is so rewarding, so encouraging, to share that with the person involved. Encouraging to the person, who may have a very poor self-image; rewarding for us to see how a good word spoken to someone enables him or her to flower and bloom. 

It’s easy to see the dirt in our own lives and in the lives of others. Not so easy to see the gold. But Jesus always looked for the gold, and it was the gold he called out. Simon Peter wobbled and failed Jesus, abandoning him at his lowest and most isolated moment, and yet after the resurrection, Jesus called him Peter, the rock. He’d hardly shown rock-like characteristics as he’d vehemently denied that he even knew Jesus after his arrest, and yet Jesus looked at him and knew that in his heart, he was a rock of faith.

It is tempting for all of us to write people off as a lost cause when we don’t like them or don’t agree with them. Jesus never writes anyone off as a lost cause. Look how he turned Saul round on the road to Damascus, as his fury drove him onwards in deadly pursuit of Christians. Nobody is a lost cause.

Thank goodness for that.

Wild Winds of Autumn

The colder winds of autumn are blowing here this morning, harbinger of what’s to come, I’m afraid. Wind is one aspect of the weather which I definitely don’t like. So often, here, it carries a damp edge to it which cuts right through the layers of clothing and chills the bones. 

It’s not that severe today, thankfully, being only early September. But it is a nudge to the complacent soul who was hoping that summer would last forever. Wish I’d finished tying up the raspberry canes the other day when the sun beat warm on my face. Sigh.

When I’m in a right grumpy mood about the wind, I’ve been heard to complain that there’s no point in it. It uproots trees, brings down power cables, lifts off roofs, and even injures and kills people, in its most severe form. It can ruin whole fields of crops and slaughter the raspberry canes. 

And it messes up my hair. (That’s a joke – my hair is generally a little messed up anyway!)

But of course I know that it does do some good things. When I see birds soaring on the thermals, higher and higher, effortlessly, I know they appreciate the free ride. When I see seed balls broken and tumbling along in the wind, I understand this is one of nature’s ways of procreation. When the clouds heavy with rain hang overhead, I positively pray that a wind would come and shift them along to the next venue.

When the disciples were tossed in the tempest on the Sea of Galilee, fearing for their lives as the night wore on without respite from the storm, Jesus came to them walking on the water, unperturbed by wind or waves. He was a picture of perfect peace, unafraid despite the wild waves and strong wind. 

Peter leapt out of the boat, eager to do what he saw his friend and master doing. And he did it successfully, as long as he kept his eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus. When he lost that self-discipline, though, and allowed his attention to stray to the tossing waves and the howling gale, fear caused his faith to falter and his feet got wet as he began to sink. Of course Jesus reached out and helped him back into the boat, and the storm subsided.

If the wind is in your face today, and the waves are splashing your feet, call out to Jesus. He always hears a cry for help, and always responds. The storm doesn’t always subside immediately, but with your focus on him, you will be able to walk through it fearlessly and arrive, exhilarated, on the farther shore.