the bigger the raindrops, the brighter the rainbow

The rain was plopping down in huge, fat drops the other day, and the sky glowed lilac in the late afternoon sun. I stepped out on the back verandah, and this is what I saw.

Those aren't water droplets on the lens: they're raindrops in freeze frame.

The bigger the raindrops, the brighter the rainbow.

We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-4

Please pray for our family. Steve's Dad is very ill, so there are a few extra large raindrops in our family right now. Praise God that the rainbow of hope shines brightly in his life.

The rainbow fact is from Ben's Freaky Facts book.

blogging: great practice for writing

One of the great joys for me has been seeing some Christian women I know join the blogging ranks. Here they are:

• Honoria (whose blog was a well-chosen birthday gift from Sandra),


• Belinda (who loves writing and wants to share what she's learning at Bible college),


• Pilgrim Penguin (who tells me she's practising the discipline of writing for others).

Sounds familiar. About 6 months ago, a certain blog writer was heard to observe: "I started this blog to reflect on things, to practise writing, and to encourage anyone who got around to reading it" (except I was more long-winded, blogging having now taught me to say things quickly).

The Pilgrim Penguin told me she's "finding blogging harder than I expected. It's quite a restrictive medium. Short doesn't mean easy!!"

Yes! It's much harder to write short than long. But short is exactly what blog posts need to be (and I take this opportunity to apologise for all the long ones).

Reading on screen is more painful and 25% slower than on paper. People tend to scan or skim-read when they're online. So you have to get a reader's attention early, and hold it. Be clear and concise, eloquent and engaging, intriguing and insightful.

And if this sounds beyond you (and let's face it, it's beyond all of us!) blogging's a great way to learn. Nothing like posting every few days to break writer's block and get the juices flowing!

Be yourself. Tell us what you think. Make us laugh. Make us cry.

Blogging demands what all good writing demands, only more so: brevity, clarity, grace and style. It's excellent training for writing. If you can write a blog people want to read, you can write just about anything.

So welcome to the dark side, my bloggy friends. And if you've always wanted to write? Try blogging!

boys and their ... lightsabers?!

Well, the older kids have been watching Star Wars recently. It seems to have rubbed off on Andrew ...

With thanks to Daniel and photoshop.

Sunday School - fruit of the Spirit - peace

We had a lot of fun learning about peace in Sunday School yesterday. (The fruit? A "piece" of watermelon, of course!)

As I prepared, I realised the Bible speaks of 3 kinds of peace - peace with God, peace with others, and peace within. I decided to focus on the third, the freedom from anxiety which is ours when we trust God to care for us.

For children are anxious and fearful about so many things! Bogey-men, spiders, illness, bullies, death, intruders, the first day at a new school: do you remember how you feared them as a child?

When I was young and afraid of the dark, my mother gave me a placard which rested on my bed-head. Its blue letters said, "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety" (Psalm 4:8). It comforted me when I lay there feeling scared.

So the children and I decorated placards for their rooms, with a choice of verses like this one: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1 Pet. 5:7).

I told the story of how Jesus calmed the storm. Not as some clever allegory about how Jesus calms the storms in our lives, but as the act which drove the disciples to ask in terror: who is this man?

Here's the pictures I drew (upside-down, which explains the wonkinesss!) as I told them the story:

1. Tired after a day of teaching, healing, and casting out demons, Jesus sleeps on a cushion in the front of the boat ...

2.Aaargh! A storm! Jesus sleeps peacefully on, while the disciples shout in fear. (The kids thought they looked like they were singing, but it's supposed to be fear.)
3. Before I drew the disciples' faces, I asked how they would have felt after Jesus calmed the storm. The children's suggestions? Relieved, amazed, happy.They were surprised when they saw the faces of the disciples and realised they were wobbling like jelly from terror!

Why? Because they suddenly realised they were in the presence of the One who can control the wind and the waves.

Jesus, the Lord of Creation, who is more powerful than all our fears, who hears our prayers when we are anxious or afraid, who will guard our hearts and minds with his peace.

the local tradesman cometh

Don't you just love those local handymen who come over and fix your appliances cheaply?

So much better than big organisations which charge a foot and a leg, then inform you that "It's a busy time, and we can't come over for 2 weeks."

Most winters I have repaired sections of our central heating ducting, as it collapsed under the combined pressures of age and poor installation. A dreary, dark, dirty job!

But a cat moved in recently and had kittens on top of a section of ducting, and the repair proved beyond me.

(The whole saga also revealed a new, cannabalistic side to kitten temperament - ever had to remove half a kitten from under a house in front of the admiring gazes of 4 young children? - but that's another story.)

A tradesman called this morning, and outlined in 5 minutes how he can fix our central heating system, which has been working poorly for years: "I'll replace these ducting sections, install a bigger router (or something like that), tape up these holes, and suspend these sections properly, and you'll find it works much better." He obviously understood not everyone has the money to replace their entire central heating system.

Which transformed him from a scruffy guy with unkempt hair, torn pants, and old work boots, into an angel of mercy.

Praise God for the local tradey.

the peace of God #2

Just a note for interested readers: I've looked at a few commentries, and changed the last few paragraphs of my last post - check it out if you want to pin down the meaning of "peace with God" in Philippians 4:4-7.

the peace of God

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:1-7

This is one of my favourite Bible passages. It's comforted me many times since I committed it to memory, back when I was newly married and anxious about our future (what work would we do? where would we live? how would we eat?).

For the first time, I realised the incredible power of Bible memorisation: if I remembered God's word, I could wield it as a weapon whenever anxiety threatened to overwhelm me, and the Holy Spirit would speak it deep into my heart.

Yet these verses have always puzzled me. What is the "peace of God" Paul talks about? Is it the "peace" Christ's death has won for us, an end to the enmity between God and believers? Or is it more experiential, a sense of "inner peace"?

One of those "light-bulb" moments happened for me as I hunted through a complete concordance for the word "peace" for my Sunday School lesson (nothing like a perfectionistic session of over-preparation to help you know the Bible better).

I realsed the Bible's use of the word "peace" can be neatly sorted into 3 columns:

• peace between God and people (Rom. 5:1-11);
• peace as an inner state of trust in God, freeing us from anxiety and fear;
• peace between people (Israel and the nations, Jew and Gentile, Christians in relation to non-Christians or secular authorities, and Christians with one another).

There weren't many verses about "peace" as freedom from anxiety flowing from trust in God, but there were enough to show me this was an important aspect of the word "peace" in the Bible:

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not be afraid. John 14:27

Yet the argument in Philippians 4:4-7 is quite complex. What is the "peace of God" which guards our hearts and minds? Most modern commentators argue that "peace of God" isn't inner peace, but God's serenity and salvation, which guard our thoughts, wills and emotions from attack, including the assault of anxiety.*

However it works, of this we can be sure: that as we pray with thanksgiving, God promises to garrison our hearts and minds with his peace, keeping out intruders like anxious thoughts.

May God help us to turn to him in prayer whenever we feel anxious or afraid. And may he guard us with his peace.

My thinking about the 3 meanings of the word "peace", and the practical implications of Phil. 4:4-7, was clarified by Jerry Bridges' The Fruitful Life. There's a lovely explanation and application of these verses in Don Carson's Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians p.110-5. And Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives an intriguing psychological explanation of how God's "peace" guards our hearts and minds in his chapter on worry in Spiritual Depression.

*See F.F.Bruce NIBC commentary on Philippians pp.143-4 and Peter T. O'Brien's NIGTC commentary on The Epistle to the Philippians pp.496-7.

interview about blogging (3) my blogging life

I chatted with Susan recently about blogging. Here's what life looks like for this blogger:

How do you organise yourself to make sure you have the time to blog and the ideas to post? What would a typical blogging week look like for you?

I had to cut and cut and cut down on blogging time, before it changed from an obsessive activity I did far too much of, to a reasonable part of life. I now blog for an hour a day during the early afternoon, which is a time my family don’t need me, and during the occasional evening my husband is working. I won’t pretend it doesn’t creep outside these times. I don’t blog much on weekends, I’m too busy with my family! As for ideas, I try to do Christian reading for ½ hour a day, listen to Christian talks on my iPod, and we buy newspapers now, to keep the input flowing.

What are the dangers of blogging and being immersed in the online world?

Obsession. Time-wasting. Stealing time, thought and energy from what’s really important: my family. One common criticism of online communication is that it distracts people from “real” relationships. Obviously the online world, like just about anything, can be a distraction and an escape, but it can also be a wonderful medium for maintaining contact with people and encouraging them in personal ways. I make sure I set aside a morning a week to go and visit someone, and another morning to pray with some very dear friends, so it’s not all online!! Plus I’m married and help raise 4 kids: that’s where my head really is. My family and friends keep me grounded.

How do you stop yourself from checking comments too often or managing your blog?

I make little rules for myself – “Don’t check comments until the morning. Only check comments once a day.” – then break them!! It’s important to respond promptly. But if I feel it’s becoming a time-waster or obsessive, I pray about it, repent, and put the brakes on. As for managing the blog: well, editing and re-editing is always a temptation for a perfectionist. Again, I try to limit it to short times each day.

How has blogging impacted on your family life/parenting/Christian faith/relationships?

It’s brought some pretty major godliness issues to the forefront, like how much I value people’s praise more than God’s. It’s helped me think more thoroughly through some issues. It fuels my Christian reading. I’ll be honest: on the family front, it had mainly bad effects until I learnt to keep it under control. It’s been a bumpy ride at times. But my husband told me the other day that he’d read the blog and that it was “quite well written,” which is a family in-joke for “really well written”. So that made me glad.

Look for the rest of the interview in the May issue of RedWhiteYou. Susan interviewed my bloggy friend Nicole from 168 hours as well, so you'll find her answers there too!

The Fruitful Life

I've been reading and praying through a chapter from Jerry Bridges' The Fruitful Life each morning.

I was excited to discover this little book on the fruit of the Spirit, which I thought would help with the Sunday School series I'm writing. I've been a fan of Jerry Bridges since uni days, when I read The Pursuit of Holiness.

Like all Jerry Bridges' books, this one is Biblical, thoughtful, wise, compassionate, and practical. He explores the shades of meaning in some huge Bible words: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

Yesterday I was reading the chapter on joy when these words jumped out at me:

In Luke's account of Jesus' sending out the seventy-two to preach, he says that they returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." Jesus responded, "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (10:17-20). ... Success in ministry comes and goes, but our names are written in heaven forever. ...

Perhaps you don't feel you have much to show for your life. Maybe you haven't written a book, or seen scores come to Christ through your witness, or done anything else that seems significant. But is your name written in heaven? If it is, you have as much reason to rejoice as the most well-known and "successful" Christian. Nothing you or I will ever do can possibly compare with having our names written in heaven. The most humble Christian as well as the most famous Christian stand together on that common ground. (p. 78)

I find it so easy to be tempted to rejoice in the wrong things. When people enjoy my seminar, or a Bible study goes well, or there's lots of readers on my blog, how quick I am to congratulate myself on the success of my ministry!

I don't even realise I'm doing it until a seminar falls flat, or only one person comes to a Bible study, or there are less readers on my blog. Then my disappointment shows I've been rejoicing in my own success, not just the opportunity to encourage others.

Jerry Bridges reminded me that even if I spend my life completely unnoticed - looking after an autistic child or sick parent, caring for my family while my husband is on conferences, living a quiet life of faithful service - but my name is written in heaven, I have as much grounds for rejoicing as the most successful Bible teacher or widely-read Christian author.

Can I encourage you to get hold of Jerry Bridges' The Fruitful Life, and to prayerfully reflect on a chapter or section each day? It will inspire you to love and serve God, and lead you to self-examination, repentance, and prayer.

I'll tell you some more things I've learned from Jerry Bridges' The Fruitful Life as I blog about the fruit of the Spirit in weeks to come.

PhDs and providence

What a waste of time my 5 years writing a PhD could have been!

I'm not sure why I did a PhD. Probably a hang-over from my private schooling: if you transfer to Arts after 1 year of Medicine, you'd better justify your choice by getting some letters after your name.

I really wanted to go to theology college, but Steve and I couldn't both afford it. So if the government was handing out scholarships, why not study theology disguised as church history?

Such noble goals!

I chose my topic fairly randomly. I couldn't do Reformation history because I didn't know French, German or Latin, not having done any particularly useful subjects during Arts.

But I was chatting with Gordo one memorable day when he suggested: "How about the Puritans? They were the evangelicals of sixteenth century England!" (He was doing a Masters on the Puritans, and as far as I know, is doing it still.)

So the topic "The Puritan quest for enjoyment of God" was born.

A few days ago, I was staring at my over-loaded bookshelf, when I noticed how many of the topics I write and speak about were covered by my PhD:

- the greatness of God, who created us not from need, but for his glory;
- the grace of God, who set his love on us before the foundation of the world;
- the Puritans, who lived for God with passion and purpose;
- the spiritual marriage between Christ and the church;
- the inexpressible and glorious joy which is ours in Christ;
- holiness, fighting the battle against sin in thought, word and deed;
- spiritual disciplines, like prayer, meditation and soliloquy;
- psychology, how to respond to issues like depression, anxiety and discouragement;
- faithful marriage and family life, shaped by God's priorities.

Those 5 years shut away in my study were a brilliant preparation for every minute of motherhood and ministry afterwards.

In God's good providence, nothing is wasted. Not even a casual comment. Not even a mixture of motives. Not even 5 years in the wilderness writing a PhD.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16