Steve Parsons Blog...

Persistence

I was reading those verses in James Chapter 5 v 17 & 18.
Here's what it says:

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced it's fruit.

When you first read those verses it sounds so simple. So easy. As though Elijah just rolled out of bed, had a cup of tea, said a quick prayer and 'BOOM!' his prayers were answered!
But if you turn in the scriptures to 1 Kings Ch 17 & 18 you can read the whole account in all it's glorious detail.

You see, Elijah was a man 'with a nature like ours'.
This is so encouraging.

He's not Superman.
He doesn't get everything right first time.
He does experience great supernatural miracles; A predicted famine, the raising of a dead child and fire from heaven on Mount Carmel to name a few.
He also has his human moments.
Running for his life.
Hiding.
Wishing he would just die.

And we can be like that can't we? Trusting God one day and doubting Him the next.

And here's where persistence comes in. Even when Elijah does see the great answers to his prayers, they don't always happen the first time he prays. When he's faced with the tragic death of the widow's son with whom he's lodging, Elijah prays for a miracle. But it doesn't happen the first time he prays. It takes him three goes before the child is raised back to life.

And later in Chapter 18 it's time for Elijah to pray so that it will rain on the land again. He's told the King that it's going to rain so he prays. And nothing happens.
Nothing.
No rain.
Not even a light shower.
Not even a cloud.

Nothing.

So Elijah sends his servant out to look again.
Nothing.

So he sends him again.
Nothing.

This whole scene is repeated again and again.

And the seventh time that he sends his servant to look for rain he gets his prayer answered. 
I'm so grateful that the Scriptures tell us the whole story, not just sound-bytes of victory.
Elijah, the man with a nature like ours, does see breakthroughs. He does see answered prayer.
But it's in the context of persistence; of not quitting.

It's so easy for us to give up too quickly; to abort before we've gotten anywhere, simply because it was difficult. Particularly when it comes to prayer and trusting God. We set out with faith and enthusiasm, only to stumble at the first hint of opposition. But so often persistence is the key to seeing God break through. 

So whatever you're facing at the moment, keep persisting. 

Practice Imperfection

Ten days ago some family and friends stood around in our lounge, champagne in hand, eagerly counting down the clock to welcome in another new year. Big Ben struck midnight and everyone cheered and hugged each other. We even sang along with the TV to 'Auld Lang Syne.' It was warm and beautiful; A cherished memory.

But it's amazing how the buzz of Christmas, the pop of New Years Eve champagne corks, and the resolutions for a new year, quickly die away. It's January now. The wind is blowing outside and the kids are back at school, which means dark cold morning routines are ours for a while. The decorations have gone and the bathroom scales must surely be wrong, right?

I've been listening to people the last few days and reading their Facebook comments. It's amazing how quickly the "2012 is going to be amazing" comments have gone - packed away with the Christmas decorations, and just how quickly the "why is life so difficult?" comments have emerged, as the latest bills hit the doormat. Amazing but somewhat familiar.

The truth is, all we really have now are our habits, our routines, our rituals, our commitments. Not the commitments made around a candle lit room during a cosy meeting of friends; You know, the kind of "this year is going to be the best ever" grandiose statements.

No. Our commitments need to be more gutsy than that.

It's the decision to go for a walk, even though the wind's blowing that shifts a few more pesky calories. And we'll have to walk tomorrow too, even if it is raining. It's the decision to plan another days work and follow through with it when no-one's checking up on you. It's the intentional, daily bible reading plan that sustains the spirit and keeps it from being broken. It's the planning and planting and feeding and watering and pruning that produces some fruit, somewhere in your life, sometime in the future.

Here's my advice for you: Practice imperfection.

Follow through with your commitments, even though you can't keep them perfectly. It will get you a lot further than most of the sentimental, well intentioned, five minute resolutions we make.

One of the reasons resolutions fail is that too often we have an image of perfection in mind. "I'm going to run 5 miles, 5 times a week, every week this year!" That's just not realistic. It only takes an illness, a crisis, a deadline at work and you've failed to keep your resolution. And once you fail, quite frankly the dreamy sheen of new years perfection has gone. It would be much better to say "I'm going to exercise regularly this year, whether I feel like it or not" - and then plan things accordingly, day-by-day and week-by-week. And don't expect to do it perfectly, or wait for perfect conditions. So you would like to go for a 45 minute walk in the sun but something's come up and you can't fit it in today. Ok. Take a 20 minute walk instead, in the rain with your wellies on. Perfect? No. Beneficial? Yes.

In order to read your bible, you imagine that you need an hour of uninterrupted time, in your favourite leather chair with a steaming cappuccino on the side-table. Perfect; But life isn't and so learn to read it anytime, anywhere. Take (even try to make) the perfect environment when possible - great. But don't rely on it.

Imperfect action, wins over perfect in-action every single time. Turn off the TV, get off the couch and practice imperfect life - and be ok with it. Practice imperfect exercise, imperfect devotions, imperfect accounting, imperfect creativity, imperfect family time, imperfect routines and habits. Bask in the light of God's all encompassing grace.

And at the end of the year you will have had many imperfect, but health giving walks in the fresh air; Spent wonderfully imperfect but majestic times reading scripture and praying; Had many imperfect but hilariously-healing dates with your spouse that have kept your marriage strong and vital.

You will be bigger and better than before.

You will have lived imperfectly, but you will have lived.

Isn't that the point?

Everything Has Changed

A baby boy was born in a stable 2,000 or so years ago.

And at that moment everything changed.

With the birth of Jesus, an eternal light entered the world that darkness has never been able to extinguish, and never will. Hope arrived, wrapped in blankets and laid in a feeding trough.

No matter how hard we try with our nativity scenes and Christmas decorations, that birth can seem a long way removed from our lives here and now. We sing 'silent night' and dream of that holy moment and yet we still have to deal with today's bills, today's problems, today's heartaches. Part of the danger of Christmas is that if we're not careful, we can trade a present knowledge of Christ for an historical remembrance of him.

What we need; what we desperately need, is to know Jesus now. We need to know him today. And Christ's birth brings us that 'today' kind of hope, because his birth demonstrates that God cares. God cares enough about us that He gives us his own Son. He has met our greatest need. No need that we ever face could be greater than our need of a Saviour. Lost in our sin and drowning in a sea of despair, Christ comes to throw us a lifeline. 

Everything has changed.

Of course there are still huge problems in this world, but everything has changed. 

There are still wars, still evil people, still poverty and disease, still loneliness, still economic uncertainties and still injustice. You and I still face our own present challenges. But everything has changed.  

Christ has come. The light of the world is shining. The world will never be the same. His coming doesn't just offer the believer some tinsel wrapped sentiments about everything being better 'one day'. No. His coming launched a revolution that hasn't stopped. The Saviour is at work in people's lives, changing everything.

And this is truly incredible. If God cares enough about us to meet our greatest need, and to do it so spectacularly, then every other need in life is well within the bounds of his love and care. Or as Romans 8:32 puts it, He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 

May you enjoy this Christmas season. May you celebrate well, eat delicious food and be with those you love. May you not only look at the birth of Jesus with sentimentality, but with new-found faith. May you experience his present power at work in your life.

And may you remember that everything has changed.

 

 

Stop Striving

It can be relentless, can't it?

The daily grind, paying the bills, moving forward, keeping your 'chin up'. 

The joy and wonder of life can disolve into a murky puddle of unending effort; the kind of effort that leaves you drained and running on empty. I've discovered in others and in myself a curious thing; the harder life becomes, the harder I strain to make it all work. In other words, I strive. 

We strive when we fall for the idea that it is all up to us. If life is going to work, if my children are going to behave, if my finances are going to last long enough, if my ministry is going to be fruitful, then it's up to me to make it so. The world (as I experience it) is depending on me to be super-human and to keep it spinning. 

When that happens we become like a person running on a treadmill. We exert more and more effort, only to wonder why we are not getting anywhere. "I'm trying super-hard here! Why is life not working properly?!"  The problem with the person on the treadmill, is that they have forgotten what the treadmill is for. It is for stationary exercise. It is not for travel. If they would simply hit the stop button, step off the relentless machine, stand back and take a fresh look at things, they would soon figure out the soloution. They might even wonder why they got on the treadmill in the first place, seeing as their real desire was to experience the fresh air of a jog in the park.

Stop.

Stop striving.

The world will be perfectly fine if you just stop for a second or ten. Your family will still love you. The church won't fall apart. Your business can survive.

One of my favourite verses of scripture in recent years has been Isaiah 30 v 15 "For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength...

Returning, rest, quietness, confidence. These are not striving words; these are saving words. It is not my job to hold the universe together, that's God's job. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't work, or indeed work hard. But working from a place of quiet confidence and restful returning, will help us to see where and how we should be expelling our energy, and might just save us from a break-down. Stopping and assessing our aims before simply jumping on the nearest treadmill, might just be life altering.  

 

Being Loved.

Yesterday evening I arrived home from a 3 day songwriters retreat. It was challenging, inspiring, encouraging and comforting in so many ways. There was some amazing input from a decidedly clever chap called Jim McNeish. Jim is a psychologist and he spent 3 days messing with our minds in the most friendly and positive of ways.

As usual, I met up with some great songwriters and worship leaders; inspiring people to be around. I had some wonderful conversations around dinner tables and over cups of coffee. I met Vicky Beeching (you might well have sung her songs in your church) and I felt quite inspired to pull my finger out and blog more regularly.

But the deepest part of the 3 days for me personally, was a returning to the most fundamental part of my faith journey: I am loved.

Brian Houston (the Irish singer, not the Aussie pastor) taught us a wonderful song that he wrote called 'I Am Loved' and it's been playing in my head ever since. "I am loved, I am loved, by the maker of all creation, I am loved. I am loved, I am loved, by my Father who knows me and called me by name, before I came into this world, I am loved."

It's what we need to hear. What we need to know. We are loved.

So I thought as part of this post I would dig out a poem I wrote and blogged some time ago and include it here. It fit's the love theme. It's called The Inexhaustable Love Of God:

I am loved. This is a fact. An incredible, beautiful, wonderful and undeniable fact.

It is a fact not limited by distance, time, feelings or failings.

My love that reaches upward to my Maker is like the breaking of the waves on the shoreline. It comes and goes. It gushes and retreats, back and forth. 

But His love for me is like a never ending waterfall that constantly and consistently pours toward me. It can never be extinguished. It can never be held back.

His love is undeniable and inexhaustible.  It can never be defeated. It is limited only by my willingness to believe it.

And what am I to make of it?  I surrender. I love.

But I wasn’t the first. He was.

God is Love.

 

Do you feel loved today?

Loved by God?

Do you think the church is seen as an expression of God's love in the world? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thinking about Steve Jobs

When my wife and I first got married, we were given a used black and white screened 'laptop' computer (I was later to discover it was called a notebook) from my wife's Father. It was made by a company called Apple and I loved it. It wasn't powerful by today's standards but it allowed us to discover the world of email and the internet. 

Soon after we purchased our first iMac. The original blueberry design with the funky opaque casing took pride of place in our living room and we became bona-fida Apple junkies. For many years I paid no attention at all to the charismatic leader of the Cupertino based technology company but slowly I was awakened to who this company CEO was and to his vision for technology.  

I started to realise that the reason Apple release product after product that I use and love, is due in no small measure to the passion of the man who steers the ship. Steve Jobs has an audacious attitude fuelled by an unshakeable belief in what he is doing. His vision was NOT to build computers. No. His vision was to change the world. Many would argue that he has.

I was saddened today to hear that due to ongoing health problems he has had to step down from the day-to-day running of Apple. He is not an old man. 

But I am motivated by what he has achieved in a relatively short time. If we can get beyond the mechanics of how we spend our days, and get to the motivation of why we exist, we'll become far more effective at doing what we do. 

I prayed for Steve Jobs today. I hope you might as well. Next time you pick up your iThing, think about the audacious vision of the man behind it.