Very pleased that the Scripture Union magazine Encounter with God has published my article 'Transformation of Work'. Here is the article.
God is a worker and He calls us to work in His wonderful but broken world. Some find it surprising that God works but Jesus makes this clear in the gospel of John. "My father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (John 5:17). So both God the Father and God the Son are workers.
It was both humbling and encouraging to spend two hours with sixth formers exploring the Mafia, evil, materialism, eastern religions and the Christian faith in Doncaster yesterday. When you tackle 'hot' topics like evil and unseen powers of darkness it is vital to pray and fast and I'd just like to thank anyone who prayed for me yesterday. I really felt the prayer as I spoke - it was fantastic to see seeds being sown in young lives. Yesterday convinced me how important it is to integrate Christian storytelling with seeking God (Isaiah 55:6) in prayer and worship.
Story
An Indian fakir had been living on a bed of spikes for 18 months. Why was he doing this?
The desperate man said this: "I worship God in this way but I confess that the pricks of these spikes are not so bad as the pain I get from my sins and evil desires. My object is to crush the desires of self that I may gain salvation."
There are four ways of looking at this self-torturing fakir.
Some say: "Get off the bed of spikes and lie down on this Bonaparte French bed worth £2,700."
Very encouraged that my article 'How Evangelism can be Fun' is featured on the front of the Baptist Times. To date 15 people have made comments about my article.
So delighted that an old friend, Jeffrey Dudiak, Professor of Philosophy, The King’s University, Edmonton, Canada wrote this:
Last Sunday I preached a sermon in Cragg Baptist church in Horsforth about Roman soldiers living and dying for Christ. Here is that story.
Anne and I had a wonderful time in Morocco over the Christmas break. The hotels were excellent and Casablanca didn't disappoint although Humphrey Bogart did not show up and mumble - "Play it again Sam."
Simeon Stylites was a laugh a minute. He lived 37 years on a sixty foot pillar 1400 years ago! He wanted to be spiritual and get closer to God! Unfortunately the hermit had misunderstood the message of the Bible! He believed that the earth and the body were evil and to be shunned. One day a fly landed on one of his pus-filled wounds caused by the inclement weather. He spoke to the fly thus: "Eat what God has given you." He inspired thousands of people to follow his 'pillar' lifestyle. There are four ways of looking at this story.
Pete Gillions told me this delightful story about Dr Nott meeting the Queeen.
For more than two decades, Dr Nott – a consultant surgeon at three major hospitals in London and a Christian – has given up several months every year to volunteer to serve in war zones amid major humanitarian crises.
In 1998 Geoff Smith spent 147 days buried in a coffin six feet under a pub garden in Mansfield reclaiming a world record set by his mother, Emma, thirty years earlier. Food, water and human waste were transported through a plastic tube!
There are three ways of looking at this story.