Will the real church PLEASE stay standing!

In my previous blog I challenged us NOT to be a church that is just a self-help to the Christian community, but let us ALWAYS be the church that is reaching out with compassion. Let us be the real church that God has called is to be, and let us begin to stand up!
  If we what to become the real church that God has called us to be and stay standing as the real church, great things will happen. But how do we as individuals stand and continue to stand as the real church? Firstly, we need to be the LIGHT in our city - wherever that is - for me at the moment it is here in Derby. If we are to be the light, it means we are visible Light is defined as "something that makes things visible or affords illumination" So as God commands in Matthew 5:16 "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
 Secondly, we need to be people who speak TRUTH. John 8:32 "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." We need to be people who speak up in the face of lies and corruption, we need to be those people who are constantly speaking Gods word into all situations! 
 Thirdly, we need to be people who LOVE. John 15:12 "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." Love without limits!  God loves us more than anything, and He doesn't just tell us He loves us, He shows us He loves us! Loving people goes beyond words, it involves action as well - don't just say it, show it! 
 God has placed you where you are for a purpose! Be the light in your neighborhood, speak truth to your colleagues, and show some love to all! 

Be the real Church and PLEASE stay standing!

Is God on the throne?

Countdown to America. . .4 months and 2 weeks till I go to America.

This last month or so has been a challenge in so many ways. I have had to move a whole 2 bedroom house into one room due to my rent being increased an extra £140 per month!
I am now living with Chase and Cathy Winters – two great friends of mine, and their dog . . . Daisy, aka Doogle! ------->
It’s been great living with the winters, never a dull moment!!

I had a second operation on my little finger; this was to remove the pins, and to release the tendon. I got to see the inside of my finger before it was stitched up, amazing. The only problem is that it’s only slightly better than before the operation. So physio has been the bain of my life the last month, stretching, bending, forcing, massaging . . . all for a little finger!

I have lost 14hrs of my work – all my youth offending work. It’s really gutting, I really enjoyed working with those young people and felt like I had some good influence in there lives. I do think that this is the type of work that I will want to go into when I’m back from the states!
And the worst thing . . . I found my first grey hair! Oh my goodness – I’m not even 25 yet! Emma my hairdresser and good friend, found it and pulled it out! I nearly cried! A grey hair? I am blonde, blondes do not go grey, they go silver and it all blends in surely!?

And that brings me to now, the Easter holidays! Although I only really have a week to unwind and enjoy, it’s been great – not getting up too early, staying in bed till 12 – I love having that freedom, I think this is the best part of being single!
Then next week I will be trotting off to Spring Harvest – I am part of the team that is running the 11 – 14 age group – Distinctive. I am excited to see what God is going to do, lives changed and renewed! Ill have more about that next blogg.

Through all this last month, God has taught me to trust him more. To make him my focus – Graham Pyman – An elder at Jubilee Church and also a good friend – preached about making sure God is your focus; God has to be on the throne in your life, and without Him there, your focus shifts on to other things. This doesn’t always come easy; it is a conscious decision to make that happen. But it’s all worth it!
It says in the Bible that “God knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper and not to harm, to give us a hope and a future” This means that we no longer have to stress or worry or fear the future, we do not need to fear about the economical crisis, or about our jobs, or about anything that we face, because if God is the centre, if all we can focus on is God, than why should we be afraid? Hasn’t He promised to look after us? Hasn’t he already given us the best when He gave His son to die on the cross? Doesn’t this tell us how much he loves us? I am amazed every time I see God move in my life!

I can see how God is preparing me for my next season, and I am excited! I am not worried about how I am going to raise all the finances I need, because I know that God is in control!

I have a big fundraiser happening May 23rd which I need as many people as possible to be at. This is going to be a Quiz evening with a possible Auction. There will be a kids friendly quiz, a colouring competition, and several different fun attractions for young and old. And it will only cost you £6 per adult and £3 for under 16s.
Please let me know if you are around and want to come!

Until next time!

Increasingly I find myself working closely with some of the young people who have become involved in the gang culture of Derby. Every day is an education lesson on what the new words are, who is what colour bandanna, who has been a part of the latest stabbing or shooting, where the local drug dealers are and then where the drugs are stashed! I learn about the young peoples experiences whilst being in prison, getting in discussions about how different "Big Mans" prison is to "Young boys" prison.
I begin to understand a little about their background, about how they have grown up, their circumstances, and how the have become who they are. The way they live from one fix to another, from one steal to another, from one girl to another, without very rarely thinking of the consequences of their actions. They live for the now and very rarely look to the future. Many having no remorse for what they have done.

After a while you become to realise they are who they are because their background, family, and how society has shaped them.
For those young people they need protection, role models, identity, boundaries, discipline, love, security, forgiveness and a second chance. Within a family unit this is what the father teaches them. But for so many young people they have no father, so they go to the closest thing that provides for these needs . . . Gangs!

My heart breaks for the young people of this city, this nation, for the young people who have not had a chance in life, the young people who are born into confused families, who don't know who their fathers are. With the young people I work with I can quite often see the hurt, and the pain in there lives, they want to be loved, to be noticed, to escape from their situations, to succeed.
But if we, society, continue to look at them and judge them for what they have done and the crimes they have committed, then there is no way that things will change. But if we commit to acknowledging that yes they may have messed up, and none of us are perfect, but see them for who they can be. There is SO much potential locked up within these young people that needs to be released!

I wake up every morning I go to work, I come home and sleep. Then I wake up, go to work and come home.
I sometimes think . . . whats the point? What am I achieving?
Then I look again and see that actually within my job, I fill significant post. Within the mundane (sometimes!) routine of work, there are moments of spontaneity, moments that I could never dream up or imagine. There have been times that all it has taken is a split second to change a moment. And I long for God to use me, to allow me to pland seeds in these young peoples lives, at times when I feel helpless, like I can not do anything, I am driven to pray!
I pray that God would start to raise up Godly fathers in these young peoples lives. To give them the hope and the love that only God can give, to give them a sense of identity, of aspiration, and a sense of belonging.
I am excited to see God break in, to see these lives change, and if all I can do is pray, that is enough!