My Life is in YOUR hands.

Sunday December 28th - my life was shaken.

I was at home at my parents on Christmas day, and had to work the next day, so I left pretty early as I had to drive for 2 hours. I was about 15 minutes into my journey, and I had hit some ice on the road. At this point I slowed right down to about 30mph as this part of the road has a lot of bends. about a minute later, my back end went out and i skidded on black ice. I went to correct myself, but knew I was no longer in control. My words were . . . "oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I'm gone."
The next thing I know is that I am sat in my car upside down in a ditch that has water in it.

My first reaction (I think due to the amount of 24 I watch) was to turn off the ignition, just in case the fuel tank exploded!!!
I remember saying to my self "your fine, you have to get out!"
I remember taking my seat belt off, and I remember pushing the door open a couple of inches. Im not sure how I got out of such a small gap, and I have no idea how I ended up with my mobile phone in my hand!? All I can say is that God intervened just at the right time. There are so many things with this incident that do not make sense for example . . . why am I still alive? The police officer was surprised that I walked out alive! All I had were a few bruises, a bit of concussion, and some whiplash!

My life has a whole new meaning now!
God could have taken me right there! I could be in heaven sitting at his feet, BUT He didn't! He is not finished with me - he has greater things planned for me!
So my question now is "What is my purpose?" "what is it that God wants for my life?"
My life is completely in Gods hands - not what I want, but what He wants.

Is your life in Gods hands? Have you got dreams and desires, have you planned out your life? In Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future"
What are the plans that you have this year?
Unless the kernel of wheat falls to the ground, it will not produce fruit!
God give us desires and dreams - these are good things, BUT if your life becomes focused on making these happen, then you will be waiting for a long time.
There is a song that says it all

The Time has come

Found love beyond all reason
You gave Your life Your all for me
And called me Yours forever
Caught in the mercy fallout
I found hope found life
Found all I need
You're all I need

The time has come
To stand for all we believe in
So I for one am gonna
Give my praise to You

Today today it's all or nothing
All they way
The praise goes out to You
Yeah all the praise goes out to You
Today today I live for one thing
To give You praise
In everything I do
Yeah all the praise goes out to You

All we are is Yours
And all we're living for
Is all You are

Is all that You are Lord

Who are you living for? yourself?  Take a moment to write down your dreams and desires for this year, and surrender them, give them back to God!
He loves you so much that He wants the BEST for you, even if the best is not how you wanted things to go!

Crows and Seagulls

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few" Matt 9:37

As I was looking out of my window today I saw a lonesome crow. He was stood in the road feasting on what looked like someones unwanted dinner. Mr Crow seemed quite focused and in control. Until a seagull comes along. The seagull was quite reserved and slowly approached Mr Crow, Mr Crow just sat there staring. Until another seagull swooped down, then Mr crow started fighting back. You see he had realized that the two seagulls were after his dinner. So he gave a bit of attitude and made a bit of noise which only seemed to create more attraction from the other birds which happened also to be seagulls! So as the seagulls overpowered Mr Crow, they took his dinner from right in front of him, and flew off laughing.

As I was watching this happen, I was watching how Mr Crow reacted, at first he was ready for the fight, he found that meal fair and square, but as the seagulls gradually started to gain in force and numbers, he became defeated. I could hear him calling, but no one came, he was all on his own.
It got me thinking about the scripture in Matthew 9 when Jesus is taking to his disciples and says that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
When people are ready to be harvested we need to be ready to go! Imagine if there were more crows, what a feast they would of had.

Imagine if we as Christians were really ready to reap the harvest, how willing are we to fight for souls? Do we keep perusing? or do we give up like Mr Crow? do we call for back up (the church body) or do we stand alone?

We need to be ready for the fight, the enemy is not gonna back down easily, he will send in others to reap the harvest, We need to be ready to peruse, to fight for the lost - to never give up!
And if we are working without the Church - working on our own to reap the harvest - it wont happen - you will be defeated! Jesus sent out the disciples in twos, Jesus valued community, do it together!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech

God has made who we are, He formed us in our mothers womb. We are created in HIS image!
It now becomes our choice -
Do we live with that knowledge and live as the world would live - not grasping the greatness of who we could be with God,
Or
Do we run wholeheartedly knowing in your head AND in your heart, that God as fashioned and formed us, given us a personality that has the potential to reflect Him?

When I was reading the above quote - I was challenged by this . . . "We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us."
We were born to MAKE MANIFEST the GLORY of GOD!! wow!
To manifest means . . .
- to make clear or evident to the eye or the understanding; show plainly.
- to prove; put beyond doubt or question.

So we are to live to show Gods glory - simply, plainly. So that when people juts look at us they would know without a doubt that we are caught up in Gods glory!

How? Live a life of worship - Christianity is far more than a weekly meeting, far more than reading the Bible, than praying a prayer or giving money to the poor and needy! Christianity is a way of life, it is living and breathing Jesus style!

In Philippians Ch 2 it says . . .

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me."

So in everything we do - needs to be as for Jesus! That's how we can can start to manifest Gods glory here on earth!!

My First Month

Mel’s News from America.

The Team

I have been blessed with an amazing team here at Eastern Michigan University.

Head Pastor—Sarah Krage. Ever since I have been apart of University Christian Fellowship way back in 2004, she has played a great part in my life. Not just as a great friend, but as a spiritual mentor too. So It is great to be able to serve under her! Then there is Associate Pastor—Eliot Geib, Whom I have also known since back in 2004. He is a great friend too and shares a passion for Faulty Towers! :) He has a great sense of humour and am blessed to be working with him! Then last but not least we have Kate Williams who is in the process of getting her credentials for ministry– she has a great heart for the international students! We share a passion of creating songs and silly movies!

It’s a great team and we all work well together with different strengths to bring to the mix!

My role

Ok so you may be thinking. . . What is my role in all of this. I know it sounds like a lot of fun—which it is, but it is far from a holiday!

I am on the staff team—which means that I am in fulltime ministry here at EMU.

My role is to provide a bible study predominately for American students, and to reach out to them here on campus.

On Wednesday night we have something called UCFConnect. This is a chance for American students to come together to look at the word of God, This semester I really felt God was calling us into a time of new beginnings. I felt it was right for us to go back to the fundamental basics of Christianity. So using Alpha materials, we are working or way through topics like—Who is Jesus? Who is the Holy Spirit? How can I have faith?

There is so much junk in the way of the truth, its time to strip it all back and refocus.

The challenge I have is that there are people with a very firm foundation in true Christianity, and also some people who are not as far on the journey, so trying to get the deepness, but yet not lose people in that. Its fun! - That’s Wednesdays!

Another part of what I do is to build a team who will eventually take the full responsibility of running Wednesdays.

I also am attending bible classes once a month. I have completed and passed my first one on “intro to hermeneutics: How to study the bible” I have 9 more to go!

As I get into a routine and figure out how much time I have, I will be picking things up on the way!

American Students

If not me , then who? If not now, then When?”

Being called to work with American students. . .what does this entail?

To be able to connect with someone, you have to know where they are coming from, you have to be fully aware of their culture, what they like, what's cool and what's not! This is hard for me as the culture is quite different to what I am used to, and it is even more difficult as I am not a student! I have formed some great friendships with people from the ministry here, but what I desire to do is to form friendships with those outside. God has brought one American student to me in particular who is very hungry to know more about God, to find out the truth. And I have been able to connect to her on a level that perhaps the rest of the staff team couldn’t. The culture here for Christians, especially within the Assemblies of God is that you don't drink alcohol. You tend not to go to places that promote drinking. Whereas in England, it is normal for us to go for a drink to be social, to connect. I know that God is using for me to be able to connect easier, or perhaps on another level.

My thought is—How can you reach a generation of students if you don’t go to where they are? Why do we expect them to come to us? Jesus was a prime example of breaking cultural “rules” He spent time with the Woman at the well, He had dinner with the tax collector! He didn’t care about what people thought, he went against the grain to advance the kingdom. So I am here feeling stirred to go to the students, to meet them were they are at, to be a light in their dark places, to be salt in their lives!

Financial Support

Thank you to all of you who are faithfully supporting me! I really appreciate you and wouldn't be able to be doing what I am doing with out you! So Thank you!!

I have a budget of $1000 p/m ( £600)

Of which I have $800 p/m raised (£480)

So I have $200 /£120 left to raise in monthly support! If you would like to support me and your in the UK my bank details are available - email me at muhr_by_mel@hotmail.com

If you are in the US please send checks payable to King Of Love University Church. With “For Mel” on the memo. My address is

516 St Johns Street, #205, Ypsilanti, Michigan.48197.

Look forward to hearing from you soon!