What will be your legacy?

What about you?

If death is a certainty, sorry to start on a sober note but it is certain, then how will you be remembered when you're gone? People usually want to leave their mark on the world; many people have in the past. Elvis Presley is remembered as changing the world of music, Roger Bannister for changing the world of sport and Martin Luther King Jr for changing the world of politics forever. But what about you?

For some there are records to be re-written, for others business empires to be built, maybe fortunes to be made or awards to be won and new discoveries to be made. But again what about you?

Records will be broken, empires and wealth will fall, fortunes can be won or lost and newer and more exciting discoveries will be made - so what about you?

A legacy is purely something that is handed down, usually from generation to generation, so the question is what can we hand down? Or maybe put in a better phrase, "how can we be significant to another?"

Today's blog thought doesn't have a clever twist or message and isn't a short preach or bible study and I am not even going to try and answer my own question but to simply ask it one more time.

How will you be remembered? What will you pass on? How can you be significant to another?

What about you?

Unless you become like little children

Something very simple yet truly amazing happened at church a couple of weeks ago, its a very simple short story but one that I think holds a very clear message.

During our morning service message the kids are taken into the back room of the church for 'Junior church' where they learn the same lessons as the adults but in their own simpler ways.

Two Sunday's ago for the second week running one little boy, Jacob, tripped and cut his head on the corner of a book shelf.  This was a normal child's accident that happens around homes and schools every day of the week.  Whilst this kind of thing happens everyday with no damage at all on this occasion Jacob's head began to bleed. 

There where two adults teaching the kids that morning, firstly his mum who held Jacob close and wondered what to do first and also Sarah who is a nurse.  Sarah's training kicked in and she immediately ran to the first aid box whilst Jacob's mum started looking for some tissues.

Then the greatest, simplest, most natural thing in the world happened - both women turned back to Jacob, one clutching tissues and the other complaining that the first aid kit was out of date.  They where greeted with the perfect view of about ten children, all of infant or primary school age, standing around Jacob praying for Jesus to heal his head.  Wow!    They hadn't been prompted or needed leading in prayers, this simply came naturally to them.

When life throws us a curve ball every now and again what do we do naturally? Panic, look for the solution, worry, get angry or seek help?

When Jesus said that we must become like children in order to get to Heaven I believe part of what he was saying was that we should act as naturally and trust as naturally as these ten kids did. Their natural response was to pray to the Jesus that we had all told them can answer their prayers.

Maybe we should do less tell and teaching the kids and instead let them teach us.

Have a great day.

God Bless

Chris

Generation Y?

I meet up with two guys from church most Friday nights for a drink and a chat about the week, life and what God is doing around us and also to have a laugh.  The conversation usually meanders from anywhere between work, family issues, money and church life to the finer points of Nottingham Forest promotion chances. On our last meet up together we found ourselves talking about our children and their generation; what their lives would be like, what challenges they will face and the world they will grow up in.

Having been doing a little reading around this next generation, this was a really interesting and thought provoking conversation. Looking back over the last 60 years or so of history there have been several clearly marked generations - The first that springs to mind were the baby-boomer's who lived with a fresh hope after the end of the war and raised children born in the fifties and sixties with a sense of true optimism.  The baby-boomer's grew and had families of their own bearing a generation born around the seventies and early eighties known as Generation X. These GenX kids who are now in their mid to late thirties have seen the world change and move away from Christian morals and undeerstandings.

We are now seeing their children sometimes labeled as Generation Y starting to have an impact of their own on the world in which we live.  Children of the late nineties and 2000s are growing up as teenagers ready to step out into the world in many cases with no basic knowledge at all of Jesus, the Bible, the churches beliefs or any of the Gospel's truths.  

It would be so easy to simply write off this generation, as some people do, as a lost cause and a waste of energy. But I would urge you please to pray for these kids and young adults as they are not only our future but also God's.  Look at your children today, their friends and the kids you pass in the street - they are part of God's future. Who is going to lead our churches in ten, twenty or thirty years? Who is going to lead our Country, make our laws, lead companies and set policies in place?

Generation Y is going to need God in such a strong way; to stand strong against changing attitudes in a changing world. And they will only get to know God if we share His love with them now! Pray for God to make this generation into His Generation!!

Have a great day

God Bless

Chris

If the kids are united

This week is the churches together week of prayer for unity and is a week when we are supposed to be focused on unity in our churches throughout the country.  As a church recently we have been focusing on community and how we can seek to serve those around us by trying to reach out and help where we can. It strikes me that the main thing missing from our community is in fact unity and the same could be said for so many other areas of life. 

Our families, workplaces, communities, country and sadly also many of our churches often lack the unity that is so important and central to what they are supposed to be about. Human nature unfortunately has a tendency to put  number one first before thinking about those around us.

The lyrics to the Sham 69 song which lends its title to my post for today say that if the kids are united then we'll never be divided. Now whilst this may not be the greatest song ever written its lyrics do in fact hold a great message. Any type of division that appears in our lives can almost always be traced back to a time when unity was broken in that situation.

When we are making decisions and having discussions that have the potential to upset unity I am always reminded of something I read a few years ago and have pinned on the notice board in my office. It reads something like "unless you are voting on the construction of nuclear bombs in your church cellar there are few decisions that could bring the end of the world but they could bring the end of presious friendships."

Whatever you are doing today try and keep a spirit of unity so that whatever we may fix or break today we don't mess up our relationships with each other.

Have a great day

God bless

Chris

What am I worth?

Continuing on from my thoughts a few days ago about giving I was in a meeting recently when someone asked the question "what are you worth"?

As I sit here right now at a rough calculation if I sold up everything: our house, car, computer, TV and all our stuff, paid off the mortgage then took the balance in cash I would not be worth that much. I found a website earlier that claims to value me as a person in monitory terms if I was to be put up for sale.  This somehow values me as a person at about $1.6 million. So the next time someone says "you look like a million dollars" I can tell them not to under value me!

But in reality when we think about what we actually have and what we can use or give to other people, the talents and skills that we have are worth so much more than our possessions. The time we spend with people, the love we share with them - open ears, open hearts, open arms and even open doors are worth so much more than any things that we could ever give.

We are designed in God's image so we are worth and loved eternally more than we could ever hope to comprehend and therefore we have so much that we can give.

In answering what am I worth, maybe it could be measured not by what I have but by how much I am willing to share with others.

Have a great day.

God bless

Chris

Even a cup of cold water?

So as I start to prepare for the coming weekend my mind turns to this verse in Matthew (Matt 10:42) which talks about how we give. It follows a series of  verses that explain some of God's kingdom values and talks about the reward that His followers can hope to receive in heaven. Then Jesus makes this whole thought process so very simple, saying if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of his followers; just a cup of water, just that - they will receive their own reward.

This would have been such a huge revelation to the people listening who lived under such strict rules about how they could earn their way into heaven. Jesus told them to forget about the laws, forget about earning their way to heaven, forget about buying their salvation. Simply give what they can and more than giving stuff to simply give their lives to Him and the rest wouldn't matter - the rules and money and duties.

Today God is saying again loud and clear that all He is asking for from us is to give ourselves to Him - to use as He sees fit. It doesn't matter how much we can give financially - God doesn't want your money, He wants you! He looks for the giver not the gift.

What He does want however is all of you - even down to your cup of cold water.

Have a great day.

God bless

Chris

Epiphany

This week on Thursday the day that we mark as Epiphany passed by quite quietly without much few or any kind of fan fare.  I don't remember hearing it mentioned on the radio and it certainly didn't make the evening news or daily papers in any major way.  I am sure that in a select number of churches it was marked, mainly by our Anglican friends, but on the whole Epiphany simply passed us by.

I think in a way this is quiet sad as Epiphany could be such a great time but other than to mark the day that your Christmas tree should come down it means very little to most.  As I understand as well as marking the twelfth day of Christmas it is also celebrated as the day that the wise men, or Magi, visited the baby Jesus.

But it speaks of so much more, an epiphany is a realisation or a time when something is revealed, and when the magi visited the baby Jesus they revealed something very special.  They bought along with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh the greatest of gifts - the revelation that this little baby was Christ the Son of God who had come to save the world.

They first had that amazing epiphany over 2000 years ago but the great news is that the gift God gave in his Son is still available to everyone of us today. Why not start 2011 with looking into an epiphany of your own - don't take my word for it but maybe do a little research. Open up a bible and read about this Jesus for yourself or pop along to your local church and check out what they have to say about this very special baby given as a bonus extra gift uniquely for you.

Have a great day.

May God truly bless you

Chris





If you want any further information about this special gift to you please get in touch.