online meanderings

8 steps to bringing pastors and their wives out of isolation - An important read.

How to create opportunities for people to speak in church - I love this. Thanks, Macca!

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle - A beautiful post.

Complaining God's way: Helping people give voice to their suffering - Useful thoughts on the psalms of lament.

When our ministry grows slowly, or doesn't seem to grow at all - Wise reflections from a church planter on trusting God when revival doesn't come.

10 practical tips for visiting parents with a new baby - You need to know this, especially #10. (A couple more: Give parents and siblings attention, not just the baby. Bring a gift for siblings, not just the baby.)

See how He loves us? While we were yet sinners Christ died! Behold the cross of Christ! See your sin and your utter depravity. See His mercy and His grace. Lisa Spence

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a reflection on twelve years in Pakistan

When I was a child, I thought of missionaries as super-spiritual, going places I'd never dare go, with more courage than I'd ever have. That's just one reason I love this beautiful poem by my friend Jenny, a missionary in Pakistan.*

A Reflection on Twelve years in Pakistan

Striving, surviving, thriving -
yet not quite the outward-bound,
ever-moving, onwards and upwards
imagined adventure.

Rather, each year taken on
its own flavour, layer upon layer
and nothing remains constant,
only the unsettling uncertainty
of what tomorrow could be.

I’ve felt
none of the perfectionism,
none of the spiritual giantism,
that I mistakenly expected.

It’s been slow – oh, so slow -
to come to pass
and yet has passed too soon,
with some gain; not without pain.

Much is veiled and dimly lit,
the secret workings of the Spirit,
who alone has been faithfully
persevering, pruning, working
in this barren soil, his toil.

His wondrous grace and tender mercy
never ceases.
And this brings peace, his peace alone,
so we continue striving, keep surviving
and be sure of His work thriving.

* I've added a few paragraph breaks for ease of online reading - apologies, friend!

Couch to 5K: week 2

Week two
Begin with a brisk 5-minute walk, then alternate 90 seconds of running with 2 minutes of walking, for a total of 20 minutes.



Week 2 of Couch to 5K isn't that much of a stretch. Yes, my legs want to stop at 1 minute. And yes, it's hard to get that extra 30 seconds out of my puffing body. But that first exhilaration hasn't worn off - not yet.

I discover the joy of running at the beach. We're on holidays, and nothing beats this: a straight stretch of sand, long waves to my right, running past holiday makers and dogs and fishermen.

One day, I go jogging with my daughter. That doesn't work out so well. She's faster than me, but she doesn't see the fun in this. We get back and I ask, "Do you want to do that again?", and she answers, "Not really."

My (sporty) sister-in-law looks at my outfit and says, "You're jogging in jeans?" Well, yes, I am. I didn't want to invest in running clothes until I found out if this program would stick. And better 3/4 jeans than nothing.

I think she's kind of impressed that her non-jogging sister-in-law is willing to give this a go, though. She's sidelined with a sore hip, so we've swapped roles this year: the sporty and the not-so-sporty.

I notice with amusement that, when I run past someone, I speed up to impress them. Then I can barely make it to the end of my 90 seconds. The penalty of vanity.

I reach the end of the beach - can't believe I've made it! Normally I wouldn't even attempt to walk this far! - and pause to watch the waves curling and the seagulls curving overhead. Then I turn and jog-walk-jog-walk back to our holiday house.

And I realise...

• running at the beach is completely, utterly glorious. Wish I could do it all the time.
• it would help if I had proper jogging clothes, but ordinary clothes will do for now - although I'll learn soon enough that running in your old cross-trainers is perhaps not the best idea.
• my app tells me, "Don't go too fast. It's about distance and intervals, not speed." Clearly it knows the way I'm tempted.

It's the end of the second week, and I'm still enjoying this.

How did you find week 2 of Couch to 5K?

God can pick sense out of a confused prayer: Richard Sibbes

Do you ever feel weak? (Yes!) Do you ever feel like you don't know how to pray? (Double yes!) Or like your prayers are weak and distracted and wavering? (Oh, yes!)

I've never forgotten Richard Sibbes' The Bruised Reed. It's one of a few lasting memories from my Puritan study days: words that stick in your mind and sing to your heart long after you've laid down the book.

Here it is, quoted by Challies:

A Christian complains he cannot pray.

"Oh, I am troubled with so many distracting thoughts, and never more than now!"

But has he put into your heart a desire to pray? Then he will hear the desires of his own Spirit in you.

"We do not know what to pray for as we ought" (nor how to do anything else as we ought), but the Spirit helps our infirmities with "groanings too deep for words" (Rom. 8:26)..."My sighing is not hidden from you" (Psa. 38:9).

God can pick sense out of a confused prayer...

Sometimes a Christian has such confused thoughts that he can say nothing but, as a child, cries, "O Father", not able to express what he needs...These stirrings of spirit touch the heart of God and melt him into compassion towards us...

"Oh, but is it possible", thinks the misgiving heart, "that so holy a God should accept such a prayer?" Yes, he will accept that which is his own, and pardon that which is ours...

Look at the promises: "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you" (Psa. 50:15). "Ask, and it shall be given to you" (Matt. 7:7).

God accepts our prayers, though weak, because we are his own children, and they come from his own Spirit; because they are according to his own will; and because they are offered in Christ’s mediation, and he takes them, and mingles them with his own incense (Rev. 8:3).

There is never a holy sigh, never a tear we shed, which is lost.

And as every grace increases by exercise of itself, so does the grace of prayer. By prayer we learn to pray. So, likewise, we should take heed of a spirit of discouragement in all other holy duties, since we have so gracious a Saviour.

Pray as we are able, hear as we are able, strive as we are able, do as we are able, according to the measure of grace received. God in Christ will cast a gracious eye upon that which is his own...

Let us not be cruel to ourselves when Christ is thus gracious.

There is a certain meekness of spirit whereby we yield thanks to God for any ability at all, and rest quiet with the measure of grace received, seeing it is God’s good pleasure it should be so...

When, with faithful endeavor, we come short of what we would be, and short of what others are, then know for our comfort, Christ will not quench the smoking flax.

You can read the rest here.

words from my friend

What Jesus did on the cross is simply so amazing. With all that was coming down on him in that final week and those final hours he could have said 'enough!' and got down from the cross and walked away, but He didn't. He stayed. For us. And if He did that then He fully loves us and He is fully in control. Of these truths I know you are convinced, and I am so thankful that He has you all in His precious loving hands.

From my friend Natalie.

online meanderings

A theatre called holy week - When God breaks into his own narrative, it's time to sit up and take notice.

Who will teach the women who want to be taught? - We need women who have been trained to teach others. "Brothers, they should not be a threat to you." Amen.

Why Christians should read fiction - Love this! (And see Christian fantasy - why it works, and why it doesn't work.)

My spouse doesn't meet my needs - The kind of expectations it's good to have of your spouse - and of yourself.

Why not to grumble about church in front of your kids - Love the way this post breaks into Bible.

Lessons from a year-long spending fast - Been there, done that, and found some of the same benefits.

In what areas do we need to find contentment? - A list that will search your heart.

When Jesus makes a trusting saint wait in pain, his reasons are only love. God only ordains his child's deep disappointment and profound suffering in order to give him or her far greater joy in the glory he is preparing to reveal (Romans 8:18). Before we know what Jesus is doing, circumstances can look all wrong. And we are tempted to interpret God’s apparent inaction as unloving, when in fact God is loving us in the most profound way he possibly can. So in your anguish of soul, hear Jesus ask with strong affection, “Do you believe this?” Jon Bloom

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the horror of death, and death's undoing: thoughts for Easter Sunday

Brad Williams Easter is Coming:

As Death haunts us, stalks us, and undoes us and all whom we love, Easter carries us...

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we should quit Christianity...All the Christian’s hopes centre on whether or not Jesus really did take up His life three days after He laid it down. Easter helps us to remember this thing, this one amazing thing that we believe Jesus did: He beat death...

Death is out there, stalking us like a predator...And if Christ is not risen, then we can never be rid of it...We are all just dust if Jesus is not risen from the dead.

But the resurrection is more than that. It is more than just the assurance of being reunited with our loved ones in Christ. It changes everything. It changes the entire paradigm of life.

If Jesus is risen, then God is real. The universe is not just a massive piece of beautiful but cold space. It is the handiwork of an all-powerful God who happens to be our Father, a Father who sent His Son to save us and make us children. A Father who insured that His children would never die, but would live to see a thousand million sun rises, and maybe a thousand million galaxies. Maybe more.

It means this current life is a blip, a passing shadow, a mist on the grass before noon. Nothing I suffer here is worthy to be compared to the things I will see after the grave has to give me up to life forever...

I hate death...Death is an enemy; a cruel thief that steals the people we love. This isn’t the way that it should be, and the hope of Christ allows me to imagine a world, a reality, where death has been struck a mortal blow itself. 

Death is dying, it is now thrashing like an enraged and weakening beast...But its rage is futile, for if Christ is risen, then death must surrender all its spoils at a single command...Death itself will be judged, as will all the world. All of this is true if Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead.

Christians have put all their eggs in this one basket, and where else can we go? Jesus has beaten death; He lay in the ground three days, stone cold dead, and then He rose to tell the tale. And now He beckons to the world, “Follow me, and you too will never die.”

Our resurrection day is coming; we will meet the Master of Life and Death.

You can read the rest here.

because of Easter, suffering isn't senseless

My mum sent me this quote from King's Cross - I've turned her into a Tim Keller fan! - and I read it myself and shared it with my son.

It's for all of you, especially those who suffer, on this Good Friday.

Christianity is the only religious faith that says that God himself actually suffered, actually cried out in suffering.

Now what good is that?… God came into the world and suffered and died on the cross in order to save us. It is the ultimate proof of his love for us.

When you suffer, you may be completely in the dark about the reason for your own suffering. It may seem as senseless to you as Jesus’s suffering seemed to the disciples. But the cross tells you what the reason isn’t.

It can’t be that God doesn’t love you; it can’t be that he has no plan for you. It can’t be that he has abandoned you.

Jesus was abandoned, and paid for our sins, so that God the Father would never abandon you. The cross proves that he loves you and understands what it means to suffer. It also demonstrates that God can be working in your life even when it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to what is happening…

If you look at the cross you can no longer go through suffering in the same way….

[This] passage from The Lord of the Rings...comes near the end of the third book, when evil and darkness seem overwhelming. Here is what Tolkien tells us about the thoughts of Sam:

Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the though pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach…Now, for a moment, his own fate…ceased to trouble him…Putting away all fear, he cast himself into a deep, untroubled sleep.

Because of Jesus’ death, evil is a passing thing – a shadow. There is light and high beauty forever beyond its reach because evil feel into the heart of Jesus. The only darkness that could have destroyed us forever fell into his heart…

It is going to be all right.

From King's Cross 170-171.

watching your child suffer - and trusting God

It hasn't been easy watching my son suffer, but I am learning to trust God's good work in his life. This post by Persis spoke deeply to me:

God never promised His children an easy life. Jesus told his disciples "In the world you will have tribulation." (John 16:33)...But what about our children?

We can't keep them in a safe little bubble forever. They will feel the effects of sin just like the rest of us. If they have come to faith in Christ, they will not be exempt from the suffering of the people of God. 

So if we can't protect them, perhaps God will intervene. The situation will be reversed and it will be a win-win for everybody. The trial will end, and God will get the glory.

But sometimes our prayers are answered very differently. He chooses to glorify Himself in their perseverance instead of their deliverance.

This is harder to watch than going through yourself. My natural instinct is to step in and save my daughter from those heart-level hurts, but I can't shield her from hard providences.

God loves her too well to let her rest on her mom's faith. I can tell her of my Ebenezers, but He wants her to plant her own and say, "hitherto the Lord has helped me." (1 Sam. 7:12)

Lessons about His goodness, sovereignty, and unfailing love can't be learned by osmosis but can only be learned first hand and often in the valley. Don't we want our children to say, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." (Job 42:5)?

So I will still pray with her, for her, and strive to give godly practical counsel. I will point her to what God has said about Himself in His Word. But I'm learning to let go and entrust her in greater ways to her Father's care.

I'm just her mum and her sister-in-Christ. I'm not supposed to be her saviour. She already has one, and His name is Jesus.  

Read the rest here.