I join the smartphone crowd

This week I got my new phone a HTC Desire Z. I now have the whole internet in my hand! I will be using it as a mini laptop, giving me the ability to actually keep up with friends (on facebook & twitter), capture notes and blog articles wherever I am, take better pictures, check my work emails and I finally have access to all of this whenever I want - no waiting in line to use the family laptop!

My first phone a Nokia 2110 was almost brick like in size and could only be used as a phone - can you believe it!

It seems there are very few things these days that only do the one thing:

• cars have satnav - we used to use maps
• TV systems can record multiple programs at once - we used to have video recorders
• cameras take videos - they used to have film which you sent out and waited to see how the shot came out, how quaint
• MP3 players can take pictures - we used to have tape playing walkmans on our belts

All our devices like life itself is getting evermore complex and the hoped for nirvana of all these machines making our lives so simple is actually a mirage.

Now don't get me wrong I love gadgets and nice new toys and give me loads of money and I would probably have a lot more BUT maybe its because I'm getting older - grumpy man syndrome - or maybe I am growing up a bit and I am starting to realise that the better things in life are sometimes the simpler ones.

Resurrection

Today, Easter Sunday, I walked down to church and as I walked I decided to take off my glasses. Without my glasses I can't really see, I can't see any writing, or the faces of people, everything is blurred. I can see but I don't really see. It the struck me that this is what resurrection is all about helping people to really see - to see the way, the truth, the life.

When Jesus was on the earth almost nobody saw who He really was and what He was telling them about. They were amazed by His miracles and knew He was special and a few even believed He was the Messiah. But until resurrection they saw this but didn't really see.

Through the resurrection it was as if they were given true spiritual glasses to really see Jesus for who He is and to hear and start to truly understand what He told them. The amazing power of resurrection is that this seeing or revealing has carried on through time and goes on into eternity. Whether we have experienced it or not we all live in the good of it.

Today all around the world we remember the power of resurrection and to coin a phrase we remember and again are thankful that "Love Wins".

Happy Easter to you.

Book Reading Update

At the start of the year I listed the 19 books I wanted to read. I thought I would post an update, give you some thoughts and most importantly I would love get some your comments on these books if you have read them or let me know what you are reading.

So far this year I have read:

Teams of Rivals - the story of Abraham Licoln's remarkable life and presidency. I reviewed this book back on Feb 12th mine and Abe's birthday!

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - This is a fascinating book which looks at why and how some fashions, messages, education, adverts, methods of working, even crime waves and crime fighting can be stunningly successful almost overnight. How they go from ordinary to tipping into epidemics.

Frank Skinner by Frank Skinner - a refreshingly honest and entertaining autobiography

Gridlock by Ben Elton - I normally like Ben Elton books but  I didn't enjoy this one.  The first half of the book was both turgid & hyperactive in it's changes of subject. The last quarter of the book suddenly became full of life and then it was suddenly finished. Not his best.

The Shack by William P. Young - A worldwide bestseller that has been criticised by several well know Christian leaders notably Mark Driscoll*. I found this work of FICTION to be moving and challenging and made me want to open my eyes to see more of God and His work in my life. A beautiful story.

And currently I am reading The World Needs More Elders by PJ Smyth which is a booklet on the role, character and key areas of development of Christian leaders and specifically church leaders (elders). It is excellent material that is really refreshing and challenging so far.

So do you have any comments on any of these books? What are you reading?

* just for the record I think Mark Driscoll is a great bible teacher and has built a great church I just don't agree with him on all issues and certainly I think he has gone way over the top on The Shack, he is just a little too black and white on certain things for me. But I must say he has got a great tag line on his Twitter feed "A nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody"

Daily meditations

Last year I signed up for the daily meditations from Richard Rohr. These meditations bring a fresh viewpoint on life and God and are often very challenging. Occasionally he shares stories from saints and church leaders from the past which are truly inspiring – my favourite one of these stories is this one:

“Saint Therese of Lisieux, toward the end of her life, had a beautiful image of salvation.  It’s not in her autobiography, so many have not heard of it.  She describes salvation in this way:  All of her life she is a little girl.  She is proud and happy to be a little girl.  Her heavenly Father is standing at the top of a great staircase, always beckoning her, “Come, Therese!  Come!  I ask more of you!”

She lifts her little foot again and again by all the actions of her Catholic faith and religious life, trying to please God.  She is trying to climb up to God.

God watches Therese and sees her desire to come.  Then in one moment that we call grace, God rushes down the staircase, picks her up and takes her.  She knows afterward by hindsight that God has done it, from beginning to end.  But it was important for her to keep lifting up her little foot.  Our struggle, our desire, our “yes” is significant and necessary.  But in the end it is always grace that carries us up the staircase.”  From Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p.324, Day 336

Why not sign-up to get some different and grace filled thoughts for each day - click here.

I can do that

How often do you generate a list of good ideas and then don't do any of them or at least you don't do them very well?

At a recent conference I heard Rick Warren make a great suggestion. He was saying that at most conferences he likes to have a sheet of paper where he writes down ideas under the heading "I could do that", then when he gets back to his base he looks at the list of ideas and picks ONE and does that one and won't look to do any of the others until that one is done.

If you think about church, training, work, TV, personal reading and study each week you probably receive loads of suggestions and ideas to improve your life. Can you really expect to implement even one of these ideas on a weekly basis? It's just too much to do, never mind doing it well!

I often think if there was just one or two things each year we could really change or improve then we would see significant growth in our lives.

So if you could change, improve, learn one thing this year what would it be - what's the one thing that you can do?

Rob Bell - the definitive take on Love Wins by someone who hasn't read it

I've been tracking some of the debate and furore that has surrounded the launch of Rob Bell's latest book Love Wins.

Now I have to say I haven't read the book but in the vein of many of the articles I have read that somehow doesn't seem to matter! However for upfront disclosure I have to say I am a fan of his work, especially his preaching. I would say he is the best communicator I have ever listened to, only C.J. Mahaney comes close in my opinion.

But back to the issue at hand "Love Wins" - or does everyone get to heaven anyway? The best reviews of the book and the central issue I have seen are Derek Tidball from EA which is a brief summary of the book, Steven Harmon who covers the issue of universalism and Derek Ouellette who brings an interesting question - is it the sub-title that has caused all the problems?

Having watched the video (see below) that introduces the book, my view is that I think the questions raised in the book are ones that real people, especially non-christians, struggle with. There is a tension even a bit of a paradox in the general love of God to want all men to be saved and yet we have  the option to choose God.


LOVE WINS. - Available March 15th from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

The best summary of the issue of who gets into Heaven I have seen and I fully agree with is from Steven Harmon who writes, "a settled doctrine of the ultimate salvation of all persons seems difficult to reconcile with the clear teaching of many passages of Scripture. Theologically, a necessarily universal salvation seems to contravene both the freedom of God and the freedom of humanity. I will not be surprised if I discover in heaven that the God revealed in Jesus Christ has indeed in the end reconciled all people to God, but I cannot presume that."

Ultimately God's love will win and I hope as we consider these important questions we remember 1 Cor 13:13 "three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love". Let's pursue love with God, one another and the lost above all else - especially above telling people they are wrong and we are am right.

Thoughts on idolatry

A little while back Tony Thompson spoke at our church and asked the questions "What is your ultimate? Have you made what is good your greatest desire? What are your idols?"

I've been thinking about this and if I am honest and I look at how I spend my time I know God is not my ultimate. In terms of time God often isn't in the top three and I work for the church! Most of the other stuff is really good but the best (God) is often no. 3, 4, 5 or 10 on the list.

Does that make me a bad? No it just means I am often asleep, unaware of the grace of God on\in my life and oblivious to the many ways God wants to be involved in my life and wants me to be aware of my life in Him!

So I say to myself "Wake up O sleeper" so I can "taste and see that the Lord is good".

I don't need so much to change my life, maybe a few bits - less late night TV for one! It is more of a case of being aware and using...

• my eyes - to look for the hand of God
• my ears - to listen for the still small voice
• my mouth - to say less, so I can hear more

So in essence I need to go to be earlier but stay awake more - I love a good paradox!