Author: wannabechristiandoorman

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Are you walking on the Train Tracks?

There was a man who was walking in the countryside enjoying all that was around him. The sun was shining and all seemed well.

Another man who was walking along a path that looked too narrow called out to him. “Don’t you know that you are walking along the train tracks and a train will come along behind you and cause you great pain and suffering if you don’t move off of the tracks? Come and walk with me on this path up here, it’s much safer.”

The man who was walking along the tracks just looked around and replied “I’m sorry my friend but you seem to be mistaken. There are no tracks here and the going looks to be easier here than where you are on that narrow path. I’ll just carry on along this path if it’s all the same to you.”

The thing is the man was walking along the train tracks even though he couldn’t see it.
A train was sure to come along at some point. It might be a short wait or a long wait for the train, but it would come and at that time, if the man was still on the train tracks then he would be run over, crushed and broken by the train.
His only hope to not be hit by the train is to move onto the path that looked narrow.

The above is a picture that shows what Christians believe in regards to heaven and hell.
One is the narrow path, which leads to heaven, and the other is the wide path that leads to hell.
The narrow path is to accept and follow Jesus where as the wide path is to follow your our ways.

Christians believe that God is real and so is heaven and hell and when they try to talk to you about these things, all they are desperately trying to say is.
“There is a train coming along and I don’t want to see you get hurt by it, so won’t you please come and join me up here on the narrow path with Jesus, where it’s safe away from the train.”

Matthew 7 vs 13-14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

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Do we ask How before we say Yes?

When Father brings a challenge to you, how do you react to it?

If you are like me then you might well try to work out the details before you want to commit to anything.
What will it cost me (time, money or anything else)?
Do I even like the direction the challenge is going?
Is it really from Father?

That last question, is the only real valid question to ask!

The other questions are really concerned with, Do I really want to do this? (What ever this might be.)

If Father issues a challenge to us then shouldn’t we be ready to say yes to him?
He is LORD GOD after all.
The highest authority.
The One who cares and Loves us.
The One who gave his only Son to save us.

Do you see why I’m saying the only real question we should be asking is… “Is this truly from Father?”

Asking if the challenge is from Father is the good and sensible thing to do.
If we do not ask that question then we could be easily led astray, but once we know that the challenge is from Father, then how do we respond to it?

If you are like me, then you might well still be asking the question of “How is this even possible?”

Which leads to the question of, will you only say yes to Father when you know how?
You see Father doesn’t always work that way.
Sometimes we need to say yes to Father before the how is revealed.

Sometimes Father might want us to say yes before he gives us the answer of How.

The problem for me is that sometimes I can get too concerned with the How to the point where I start to forget to say Yes.
I can get caught in the trap of, if I can’t see how to do this then how can I possibly say Yes to the supposedly impossible?

What if Father wants us to say Yes to him first?

If this is the case then the How will follow! (Father does know the How after all.)

So the question remains, will you say Yes to Father, even when you don’t know the How?

Father,
Help us to know where you are leading us to go.
Give us the confidence to say Yes to you, even if we don’t know the details of how.
Help us to follow your promptings and your ways.
Amen

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Words have power!

We may have all heard those words before, but how true do we know it to be?
A good well placed word can have a great benefit to someone in need.
Like wise, a wrongly placed word can cause a great deal of pain.
So I think very much so, that words do, in fact have power.

OK, so now that I have stated the obvious, where am I now going with this?

Well my thoughts are kind of, if we know words have power, then how well do we use them?
Do we use them to build up, encourage and generally do good, or do we do the opposite?

How do we use words with ourselves as well as others?
Yes, the words we use with ourselves, can also have great power!
We can build ourselves up, or pull ourselves down with the words we use with ourselves.

If we say I can’t, then guess what, you probably won’t be able to.

If I feel as though I’m about to say “I can’t”, then I’ll endeavour to change it to ” I’m struggling.” Or “I need a bit of help with this”.

You shouldn’t deny the struggle. To do so is to stick your head in the sand. But we can try to change our perspective. We can try to change, we can’t to, we can overcome. (Anyone feel like singing a song…. we can overcome 🙂 )

After all doesn’t it say somewhere “I can do all thing’s through Christ who strengthens me”.

Or if we feel like a different song we can try, I get by, with a little help from my friends.
This leads me to what people can say to us when we are struggling.
The words people say to us at times of hardship, can very much so make a big difference too.
One of the phrases I really dislike to hear is “It must be so hard for you.” That phrase is normally given with such a sad look on people’s faces of, oh I do feel for you, and you have my sympathy.

It can just leave me feeling, ARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
It’s just NOT helpful!!

Please tell me, how is that phrase meant to help???
All it says to me is, “Life must be sooooo hard.  Why don’t you just sit down and have a pity party. “They are not words I need to hear when struggling with anything.
I know it’s not what people are trying to say, but it’s all I can hear when it’s said to me in times of struggle.

Again, I can only say, it doesn’t help me.
If you are feeling the urge to say that phrase, then please don’t.
Instead, try to say something along the lines of…I can see you’re struggling but you can overcome. Or, I can see things are a struggle, it’s at such times we need to dig deep or whatever Father puts on your heart in order to lift up or encourage the person who you see who is struggling.

If you can see someone who is struggling then you could even ask God, is there anything I can do to help?
You do need to endeavour to hear God if you do this.

It might be very tempting to ask the person who is struggling.
Please, tell me,  how can I help you?
Or, what can I do to help you?
Yes, I’ve had that happen to me in the past too.

I know, people have meant well. But at the time I was in a place where I didn’t know what I needed. I might, at a push, have been able to tell you of a want which I might like to have been met, but what I actually needed???

You see when you are struggling, you’re perspective can get a little bit (or a lot) skewed.
Your thinking can become a wee little bit wrong. You can end up becoming the silly one, in some ways.
So, do you really want to ask the silly one, what’s needed???
Trust me, it’s better to ask for Fathers advice in a situation like the above.

One thing you could ask Father is, “do you want me to walk this struggle with…..”If you do ask this question, then please listen to the answer. If Father says no, then listen to Him.

The wrong person trying to help can cause more problems than help. You’re motives might be good but if Father says no, then it’s best to listen.

We can all pray, even if it is from a distance.
If you are genuinely praying for someone, then you know what,  you could possibly be part of the solution. It’s not up to you to be the whole solution, but you could play you’re part. You could possibly even bring a word (from God), you know words do have power.

There might even be the crazy thing that Father asks you to do.
He can sometimes ask us to do the funniest of things. But if it is from Father, then who knows how it will help.
It all comes back to hearing his voice, and then following it. Do we hear his voice clear enough to be able to follow His prompting’s?

Father.
Please do help us all to hear you more clearly and then to have the courage to follow your promptings.
Amen

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The Precious Jewel

I have a precious jewel in my pocket.

As soon as I take it out, another one takes its place in my pocket.

I now have one in my hand and one to give away.

Who will take my precious jewel?

When you take hold of this jewel and put it into your pocket, then the same will happen for you also.

So what is this precious jewel I have?

It is Jesus in my life.
You see having Jesus in my life is something special, and something that can’t be lost. When I share him with you and you accept him then you can experience all that I have and together we shall both become all the richer.

So will you ask Jesus into your life, and also become all that much richer?

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How Do You Pray when you feel you just can’t do anything?

Have you ever found yourself in a place where doing anything seems impossible, where even the simple tasks are a major chore to do?
If you have, then how do you pray when in such a place?

When doing anything seems impossible then praying can seem like the last thing you want to do.
It’s in these times that it could be the most important thing to do!

So how can you do it?

If you can, then using the Lords prayer can be a good starting place.

If I’m struggling, then using The Lords Prayer gives me a model of how to pray.
I take each line, one at a time and dwell on what it means for me in the here and now.
I’ll demonstrate with the first line.

Our Father in heaven – Yes you are my Father, my Daddy. The one I can go to. You are there for me, thank you that you are there for me.

I might dwell on that one line for longer or that might be all I think of for that time before moving onto the next line and repeating the process again.

If you can put this idea into practise then great, please try to do that.

It Will Bless YOU!

But what if you can’t even do that.
What if even that seems impossible.

There is still hope!

You are not so lost that you can’t be brought back!

When I in the past have reached the point where I can’t even say the prayer in that manner,  then I will just recite the Lords prayer.
Parrot fashion if I must but I still do it because even doing that has a power to it.

But what if you can’t even do that?
When I have been there in the past, then I have had another fall back option on prayer.

It’s one of the most basic prayers I have called out.
It’s only six words long.

Praise you.
Help me.
Thank you.

The order the words are used in can be different each time but I try to Praise Him, ask Him for help and also try to remain thankful for what I do have.

That last one can seem difficult to do when you think you have nothing but we all have something to be thankful for, if we look hard enough.

We have air in our lungs to be thankful  for. If we have a roof over our heads and food on the table then we have something to be thankful for.

It can be hard to say thank you, when everything else seems to be wrong, but we always have something to be thankful for.
If we can only open our eyes enough to look for it.
It can be a very hard thing to do but it is the right thing to do.

When I have said the six word prayer in the past I have tried to use the same method spoken about above. Trying to put some meat on the bones, as you say.

There have been times in the past when all I could do is say the six word prayer.

In them times I could only let my heart groan and cry out to Father with the words I didn’t know how to form with my mind.

I can say to you that Today in the Here and Now, I am soooo much Better!!

It can seem so hard if all you can do is call out the six word prayer, but PLEASE, DON’T GIVE UP!!

Father is there for you, and rooting for you.

You can overcome ALL things with Christ who strengthens us.

There is this power from God which IS available to us if we seek him, even if it is with only six little words.

I would like to offer a prayer to anyone who is in need.

Our Father, who is in Heaven.
Thank you that you care for us ALL.
We are ALL special to you.
You gave your son Jesus for us ALL.
Thank you.
Help us all to KNOW that we ARE LOVED BY YOU!
Bring a healing touch to ALL who are hurting.
Help them.
Bring a Help to them that WILL bring a release.
Enable those who are struggling to carry on in YOU.
Thank you that you ARE REAL.
The one True Living GOD who cares and LOVES US.
Help us all to remain in you.
Please guide our steps and lead us to an abundance in YOU.
Amen

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A Straw to Breathe with.

The second lockdown.

When the second lock down started we initially tried the prayer walking again but this time it just felt wrong.
In short, any peace in what we were doing was just gone.

Time to listen to Father that little bit harder.
I kind of had the thought of,
“It’s time to do what you need to do and not what you want to do.”

It’s never easy when what you need to do and what you want to do are in opposite directions.
But Father is Father and he needs to be listened too.
Others were also saying similar kinds of things. So we decided to stop meeting as we had been for a while.

So now what?
We all still needed some sort of connection, but none of us are fans of the virtual meetings.

The choice we had was zoom meetings or no meetings.
After meeting in the park and upholding each other in prayer and fellowship we had a good group connection going (and still have).
So, could zoom meetings work???

We had to try.
Not quite what we were looking for but as people say, something is better than nothing.

As we were a small group we had only a small number of zoom sessions open, this helped greatly.

We had some technical difficulties. On a couple of times we could see but not hear people.
Time to call each other on the phone and guide each other to what button to press. OK, I can hear you now, time to hang up said phone.
Yes that was me at the start, but by and large we could do this.

Not what we wanted but what we needed.

On on my way home from work one day I had a picture.
It was a man with his head under water, desperately wanting to put his head above the water to take a breath of air but there was a barrier stopping this from happening.
A straw was then offered to the man through which he could then breathe.
How silly would it be to say no to the straw when it’s the only air being offered!

This is where I felt we were at.
Wanting desperately to meet, but just not able to, other than via zoom.

I shared this with my Mum the same day and then she told me about a strange dream she had just had that same night. (I’m not the only one to have them) 🙂

The short version is,
There was a baby in a pushchair, upside down, but happy and content.
As the baby was content the carer of the baby just thought, He’s happy and content, I’ll leave him alone.
It then started to rain and the pushchair started to fill with water.
This did not bother the baby. He just carried on smiling and gurgling.
The water level was rising to the point were the baby could drown. (It was upside down after all). But the baby was not bothered.
The thought that was with my Mum was,
Why is nobody helping that baby? … Why don’t you help the baby?
Then she woke up.

As she she told me this, it made perfect sense to me.
It was another picture, similar to the one I have already shared, but from a slightly different view point.

The baby was a person who appeared to be content
Not wanting any fuss to be made over them, but is in actual fact in great danger and in need of help.
The person might be aware of their need of help or they might be in denial about the help they need, but help is needed.
If something isn’t done then the consequences could be very bad!
Who is going to be willing to help the baby (person in need)?

Is it just a coincidence that my Mum had this dream on the same day that I had the picture?
Or was it one of those God coincidences?

To me it was saying:
You need to meet for your own good and you also need to meet up to lift others up who are struggling.
If you can’t meet up for your own good, then can you meet up in order to help someone else, for there are some who need to be picked up.
Are you going to let someone else fall just because you don’t want to meet up?

When Both myself and my Mum shared this at our zoom encouragement group, another person then shared that they had been thinking about the coals on the fire.
When one is removed and placed on the side it goes cold.
But when it is replaced back into the fire it starts to glow again.

Now that was three pictures all along the same theme!
I took this to be that we were indeed doing the right thing.
We may not like zoom but it is the air we need to breathe, just like the straw to breathe by, and an opportunity to help lift somebody up who is struggling.

So, how do we run these meetings?

The format of our meetings is very simple.
We turn up, (or log in).
Say hello to each other.
We have an opening prayer time. (Good to say hello to Father too.)
We try to have time for everyone to pray. If the silence is going on too long then anyone can say a loud AMEN. 🙂
We then try to share something of what Father has been speaking to us during the week. (This normally leads to a discussion.)
We then pray for each other. (We try to share the most pressing need and not our entire prayer list). 🙂
Then zoom may well kick us out as time has run out. 🙂
We could always log back in if needed.

I do think that limiting the number of zoom sessions to no more than four means that everyone should then hopefully be a participator rather than a spectator.
It’s harder to hide when there is a smaller number of people.
We can all have the tendency to hide in a large crowd if we are feeling a bit down.
Having a smaller number also means that there is a greater chance that you could bless someone, which in turn leads to you being blessed.

I would like to encourage you all to connect up with someone in whatever way works for you.

If your not connecting with anyone at the moment, then could you start your own zoom encouragement group? (Or even a park meeting group? Now that we are allowed to.)
If you think it could be what you need then ask Father to help and guide you to know how best to do this.

Father, please help us all to hear you more clearly.
Help us to know how we can continue to keep connected with each other.
Help us to lift each other up and to keep close to you.
Amen

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Social Distancing is Difficult

Back to our meetings in the park.

Social distancing is difficult. We may all mean to try and keep our distance but it is just not normal.
So, how can we meet and still keep our distance?

We have found that it helps to set boundaries. (Literally)

Theses boundaries could be anything.
A picnic blanket, which you stay on (a towel makes a good blanket).
Off the top of my head, a jumper, coat or even a bag placed on the ground could be used as a marker to say, you stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine.

It all sounds a bit silly but in order to keep social distancing then something is needed.
We just have this tendency to want to group together and when social distancing is required then something needs to be done.

So What do we do?

We have chosen to do the slightly crazy.

We have a white electrical cable (a thin multi core cable, cheaply bought from Wilko) which is 6 meters long. In the middle of the cable there is some black insulation tape added (in order to show the middle point).
The middle point is then used as a corner so that when the cable is laid out on the ground it forms two edges of a box.
Another cable with the same set up is then placed opposite this and then we have a cross on the floor (+).
We then have four boundary lines down for four house holds to have there own space in.

It’s easier to do this if everyone brings their own cable themselves to the park.

We have now learnt to all keep our distance from the cable.
This wasn’t always the case as we still had the tendency to want to move up to the line instead of keeping our distance from it, (I told you social distancing is difficult.) 🙂

If we were still struggling with keeping our distance from the lines then we could always have two more cables and then make a expanded cross.
What I mean is we could all have our corner to sit in with a gap between each cable that is big enough so that we do keep apart from each other.

This is not a normal thing to be doing, but it does actually work.

Whilst we were in tier 4 restrictions we met as described above.
We all kind of thought, is today the day when we are told to move on or receive that fine we really don’t want.
The COVID marshals were in the park, but we still carried on as we had been.
A marshal did walk over to see what we were doing, as we were singing and praying at the time. (The BBC web site did say that religious assemblies were allowed), so there we were having a religious assembly in the park! No problem with that…is there…???
The marshal looked at what we were doing, stayed for a few minutes and then walked off. PHEW. 🙂

At the end, as we were leaving he came back and said to us that what we were doing was good.
We took this as we are OK to carry on, whilst in tier 4.

One of the things I have heard in church is “the worlds problems are the Churches opportunities”.

I know this may sound really silly and on a very trivial level but I do think that we as a church (of people), are demonstrating to all, how anybody could meet together during this time in a socially responsible manner.

Anyone could follow the steps we are taking and meet in a socially responsible way. You still need to keep your distance when coming together and leaving, but it can be done. We try to stagger when people leave. Arriving is a bit easier as we don’t all arrive at the same time and keeping distance is easier at the start, for some reason.

When lock down came we then had to stop meeting together.
For the first one which was only about 4 weeks we broke up to smaller groups of two house holds (I think that it was mostly just two people) who met for prayer walks and fellowship instead. It was only going to be 4 weeks or there about anyway.

For the lockdown which happened in the new year and went on a wee little bit longer, well something else had to done.
If you haven’t guessed it yet, that should be the next post which should hopefully go out soon.

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Tired of making Sparks?

I wasn’t planning on making this post but a picture came to me as I was going to work today, so I thought to just go with it.
I will return to our meetings in the park soon.

Anyhow, Tired of making Sparks?

Do you sometimes feel that you have these ideas that you try out, just to find that they seem to lead anywhere?
It’s like your trying desperately to start a fire, but all you see are the sparks of an idea.
You give it your all, but sparks are all that you see.
Then you reach the point where you can think enough is enough, and then it’s time to move on.

The picture I had was of one such person.

There were many sparks, but no fires.

The problem with many sparks but no fires is it can become very disheartening.
You can start to think,
What am I doing?
Why am I bothering?

In the picture, this was happening to the individual who was doing their best for God.

Father saw this and wanted to give some encouragement.
I believe the words Father wanted to say are as follows:

Well done good and faithful servant.
You’ve had all these sparks and have given them away freely.
You haven’t tried to keep them to yourself.
I am well pleased with you.
Do not worry about the fires that you haven’t seen.
It’s not yet time to see the fires that will come from the sparks that you send out. Some of the fires may be small but others will be bigger in due course. You will see the results one day.
Some of the sparks are starting sparks, some are feeding sparks but others could end up being igniting sparks!
You may or may not see the igniting sparks at the time, but you will in the end.
I Love you and am well pleased with you, so just carry on doing all that you are doing for me.
I am Well Pleased with you and one day we shall see all the results of your labours together.

I do hope that the above words are truly from Father and not just me.
But just imagine him saying them words to you, well done good and faithful servant.
When all is said and done, isn’t that going to be one of the greatest things he could say to us?

Father help us all to see what you want us to do.
Help us not to be too concerned about the results but just to be happy to play our part.
Seeing the results of something we have played a part in is always going to help us.
But even if we don’t see the results just yet, then please help us to not get disheartened.
Instead help us to know you are pleased with us, and continue to lead and guide us.
Please give us eyes and ears to see and hear you more clearly and a heart to follow you.
Amen

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To Conform or Not to Conform, that is the question?

This was written as I was questioning whether we should even be trying to meet up in the park in order to have some fellowship.
So below is…

To Conform or Not to Conform, that is the question?

Well, with a title like that have I now got all the non conformist’s interested yet?

So what do I mean by the above?
In the church aren’t we meant to be kind, caring, helpful and above all loving?

Hopefully the answer is yes to all the above, especially the Love bit.

So why would I even ask the question of “Should we conform or not?”

From knowing that we hopefully aspire to be loving and all the rest then surely the answer is to conform?
So why should we ever not conform?

I think that where I am trying to go with this is that sometimes we can fall into the trap of not wanting to upset anyone as far as is possible.
Not a bad thing in itself but, can we really avoid upsetting everyone all the time and more importantly should we?

If we see that something is wrong, should we just ignore it and conform to what people are asking of us just because we don’t want to upset them?

This is not one of those yes or no questions where you can say for sure the the answer is …..well, yes or no.

There are times when it is right to conform and times when we should not conform.
The real question becomes why are you acting the way you are acting?
What is at the heart of the matter?

If by conforming you are just trying not to cause a fuss and keep everyone happy, then are you doing the right thing?

If you are trying not to conform just in order go and cause a fuss, then you are most probably in the wrong place.
Hopefully this is a place we try not to visit.

How helpful is non conforming for the sake of non conforming going to be for anybody?

So, is there a time to be the fly in the ointment?

If it is needed, then the answer could possibly be yes.

It needs to come from the correct heart though. One that is looking to improve a situation.
I do think that this is the only time to be the fly in the ointment. When you are trying to improve, correct or build up something that needs to be done, even when it appears that it isn’t wanted.

Be warned, if you do need to be the fly in the ointment then don’t expect to make any friends in the process.
It can very much so be the lonely road.
After all,  who will want to come close to you if you become the trouble maker?

If you do manage to gain a following then please try to make sure you haven’t just formed a band of trouble makers, just out to cause as much mayhem as you can all in the name of your cause.

It is better to seek an open and honest dialogue with all the people involved in order to seek understanding on everyone’s part.
You need to understand others point of view as much as you may feel that they need to understand you.

The enemy seeks to destroy. He will use anything he can to do this.

Misunderstanding is one of his greatest weapons.

If we are in a place of feeling frustrated or annoyed with someone then we need to see where these feeling’s are coming from.

They’re not from God. Feelings of frustration and anger are from the enemy.
If we find ourselves in situations of the like, then we need to try and remove the emotions from the situation.

Such an annoying phrase.

It’s like, I’m so wound up and annoyed at …. and your just telling me to ignore it???

No, not quite. What I’m trying to say is you need to leave the emotion at the door when dealing with difficult situations.
You still need to acknowledge the emotions. They are real after all,  but try to not let them rule you.
Be led by something else….Someone else….

Our Father, the Lord of Lords. The One who knows all and see’s all.
He is the one with the answers after all.
If we can all see our Fathers will then the question of “to conform or not to conform” should hopefully become redundant as we all seek to follow his will.

We all need them ears to hear with, and hearts to follow.

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The start of meeting in the Park

The Best place to start with is… the start. 🙂

So how did we start meeting in the park?

My wife felt moved to call a friend to say… well, hello (basically).
So she did just that.

I then took the phone and also said hello.
It was during this conversation that both me and my good friend were stating that we were both fed up with not being able to meet up at church at the present moment.
So we then said that we should just meet up in a park.

The problem with the word “should” is that it can, so often, be code for never.

At some point during the conversation we agreed that we WILL do church in the park on the next available Sunday.

This, in essence is where the seed was planted.

Some people were not so keen on the idea of us doing this though as COVID restrictions were in place. Although groups of six were allowed at the time.
I believe that some thought that it just wasn’t worth the risk and that everyone needed to be sensible in order to beat COVID.
There was more to it than that but in essence I think that was the main objection.

There was the threat (probably more in my mind than anywhere else) that the authorities could descend on us at any time and at the very least tell us to move on or issue fines for a “not allowed gathering”.

We did plan to keep our distance and had some funny ideas of how to do this. (Details will probably shared further down the line.)
But we were still left asking, should we even be doing this?

As I thought about this I wrote my next post (even before I was blogging) To conform or not to conform, That is the question?

As it’s already been written the next post should be posted up very soon 🙂