Get some sleep

And that brings us to the story that we looked at last Sunday - from 1 Kings 19:1-18.

We might think that Elijah's faith etc would be at record high levels following the events of Mount Carmel, which we looked at yesterday. But a threat on his life from Queen Jezebel - which was quite a credible threat - she had killed a lot of other faithful prophets - fills Elijah with fear and sends him running for his life.

There is no direct comment on whether this was a good decision or a bad decision, although towards the end of the story God sends him back the way he had come. But it certainly leads to a low point in Elijah's emotional life, even to the point where he curls up under a tree and prays that he will die.

Elijah was emotionally low, he was tired, he was hungry, he was rapidly coming down off a spiritual high...perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Elijah made a poor decision. We are whole people - we are emotional, physical, mental, spiritual - and however we might want to, we can't compartmentalise our lives. Each bit of us affects all the other bits.

Sometimes we might, for example, see spiritual attack, where actually there is nothing of the sort - actually what we need is a good night's sleep and a decent healthy meal. And at times we are our own worst enemies - we don't look after our physical bodies, we don't get enough sleep or exercise and we eat too much saturated fat and processed food - and we wonder why we're down, or grumpy, or say things that we later regret...

And once we're feeling down it is very easy to get things out of perspectives. The negatives in life become huge, and the positives almost disappear. Elijah knew from his conversation with Obediah in chapter 18 that there were other prophets alive, that he was not the only one left, but in his low state Elijah has allowed things to get out of perspective, and he has sent his servant away - maybe the one person who could bring a bit of balance and perspective to the situation.

But God in his grace meets Elijah and we'll think about that tomorrow.

Fire!

Next, we come to perhaps the best known story from the life of Elijah - it's the kind of story that gets (partially) told in Sunday school and holiday clubs. There's suspense, action, humour and lots of potential for good craft activities! It's the story from 1 Kings 18 of Elijah on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal.

Battle lines are drawn on the mountain, and at the start of the day it looks as if Elijah and his God are on one side; and all the people, the king, and the prophets of Baal and Asherah are on the other.

And the task for the day for each team is to first of all build and altar, sacrifice a bull on top and then call on the name of either Baal or God and see who answers with fire. Ever the gentleman, Elijah allows the 450 prophets of Baal to go first. After several hours of unsuccessful calling on Baal, during which they have lost their voices, got tired legs from dancing and jumping around, slashed themselves with spears and swords...still nothing. Elijah suggests that maybe Baal is asleep or maybe travelling - suggesting that they shout louder - still nothing.

Then Elijah suggests that he has a go, and builds his altar, kills the cow, digs a trench, pours 12 large jars of water over it so that even the trench is filled, and prays a simple and short prayer. And the fire falls from heaven, consuming everything, including the water. And the people turn their hearts back to God and worship him.

James 5:17 tells us that Elijah was human, just like us, and therefore we should have faith when we pray. But I doubt many of us will have had such a dramatic and public answer to prayer as this one on Mount Carmel. But God does answer prayer, he continues to work miracles. He is not asleep or travelling or otherwise occupied. So we pray to a God who hears, a God who is in control, a God who is working out his good purposes in us and through us.

We might expect this event to boost Elijah's faith to super levels, but as we shall see tomorrow the opposite is true. He plunges from the mountain top into despair and fear.

God really can use you

Do you ever feel insignificant? When we look at the situations around us, they seem so huge and we wonder what difference we could ever make. And then there are really gifted people already doing all they can - and how can we compare ourselves with them? We have no experience. We have no training. Or maybe we've grown up listening to messages telling us that we're no good at anything, and we've heard it so often that we've started to believe it. Or maybe we've started to believe that because we come from a certain background we have nothing to offer. And so we keep our heads down, we don't get involved, and we believe that God can't possibly want to involve us in his plans.

The next part of the Elijah story (1 Kings 17) shows how God uses the most unlikely people in the most unlikely places. In fact, the more unlikely it is, from a human perspective, the better it is from God's perspective, because then we learn to rely on him, and depend on him, rather than ourselves. It is in our weakness that God demonstrates his strength and power.

From Elijah's cultural/religious background the widow at Zarephath would be the last person he would go to in order to find provision in a time of drought and famine. She was a foreigner. She was a woman. She was a widow. She lived in the heartland of Baal worship (see yesterday). And yet this widow was exactly the person that God had spoken to and wanted to use to provide for Elijah in a miraculous way. The most unlikely person in the most unlikely place.

When it comes to doing amazing things for God maybe you see yourself as the most unlikely person. That's great - because that's exactly where God wants us to start from - because it's ultimately not about us - it's about God working in us, and through us, as we make ourselves available to him, and are obedient to his call.

Elijah - a good man to have on a camping trip

This past week, as I've been preparing for Sunday's talk on the Old Testament prophet Elijah, it was clear that there was far too much for one message - there was probably enough for a whole series. So over the next couple of days I'll look at a few of the bits of Elijah's life we couldn't cover yesterday.

Yesterday I briefly mentioned that our introduction to Elijah (1 Kings 17:1) is as he gives king Ahab the message that there will be no more rain in the next few years unless Elijah gives the say so. Such a claim is pretty amazing in and of itself - for anyone who can control the weather is clearly getting help from a greater authority than themselves.

But this claim becomes more significant when we look back to 1 Kings 16:31 and see that king Ahab had chosen to neglect the worship of the true God, and has instead aligned himself with the worship of Baal. The item below is a small statue of Baal, displayed in the British Museum; although this statue is much older than the time of Elijah. It is not complete - whatever was in Baal's raised hand is now missing but the view is that it was either a club or a thunder bolt - because Baal was a storm-god.

And so when Elijah makes this claim that there will be no rain, it is a direct challenge to Ahab and his new god - who is a storm-god, and supposed to be able to bring rain. Therefore the drought that followed was a clear message - Baal is powerless in the face of the one true God.

God is all powerful. Ahab made the wrong choice of whom to worship with disastrous consequences as we shall see over the next few days. Where is our allegiance?

We can all do something

What's your promise? from Micah Challenge in the UK on Vimeo.

Start well...Finish well

Incomplete DIY projects, an exercise bike covered in dust, exercise equipment in the loft, a discarded gym membership card - all testimony to the fact that it's a lot easier to start something than it is to finish it. Anyone can start running a marathon, but to complete the course takes dedication, commitment, hard work, determination, training...

Paul, one of the major writers of the New Testament said in Acts 20:24 that his only aim was to finish the race and complete the job that Jesus had given him to do. He knew that even though he had done some amazing stuff in the past he could not bask in past glories - he had to keep on going - right to the end of the race.

Asa was King of Judah between 913-911 BC and we read about him in 1 Kings 15, and 2 Chronicles 14-16. He was a king who started really well, but it all went wrong at the end.


Whenever we're in a new situation we need to try and start well. We want to make a good impression. But who are we trying to impress? Asa knew that it was more important to impress God than to try and please people. Asa made God his number one priority. Whenever we start something new we need to take the decision that God is going to be our priority - and allow that fact to influence all of our decisions and choices.

So for those who will be starting university in the next couple of weeks here are three pieces of advice. Find a good church, join a Christian student group, and join another student group (sports club etc etc).

But Asa let things slip, and so the end of his reign is marked with war rather than peace. He took his eyes off God, and began to rely on himself. Maybe as we look at our Christian walk we see that things have slipped. We're not doing the things we once did. God is gracious and compassionate and therefore he wants us to start again - yes it will be hard and difficult, but the invitation is there. The invitation is there to finish well - because there is a prize in store for those who finish well.

Lessons from 930 BC

Last Sunday we began a new sermon series at church. The title of the series is 'From Empire to Exile' and looks at the period of Old Testament history that starts with the death of king Solomon in 930 BC and ends with the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Each week we are going to look at a different character, either a king or a prophet, and see what these ancient stories have to say to us as we seek to live a followers of Jesus in 2010.


We started with king Rehoboam and focused on 2 Chronicles 12 and drew out three short points for reflection.

First we saw the danger of blessings. After a time of struggle Rehoboam became established and strong. It was at this point that he and the people deserted God's way. Many of us turn to God in times of hardship, distress and turmoil, but when things settle down, when things are going well, the danger is that we drift away from God and start to rely on ourselves and on our own strengths, abilities and resources.

This morning I came across a quote from C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain

Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us

The second thing we saw was the God was in control. Humanly speaking - at this time in history Egypt was a world superpower, and could flex her muscles as she wished. But verse 2 makes it clear that it was because the people had abandoned God that the king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. God was working out his purposes. God allowed this to happen. The people may have wondered 'where is God in all of this?' The answer is that he is closer than you think.

And our final point was that because Rehoboam did not seek God, because often he did his own thing, his life was not all it could have been. God promises us life to the full. Rehoboam settled for a life of bronze imitations rather than the genuine gold. How much do we miss out on because we do things our way rather than God's?

To listen to this message click here

And the Results are in...

Today we went up to Great Ormond Street Hospital to hear the results of all the tests they have done on R following her stroke/seizure episode earlier in the year. And it would seem, when taking everything into consideration, that it was most likely a seizure and not a mini stroke after all.

So what does that mean? Well, in the immediate short term it means that R has stopped taking Aspirin, and so within a week or so the consistency of her blood will be back to normal - so not bruising as easily as she does now, and not bleeding all over the place when she cuts or grazes herself. This also frees us up from the daily petit filous saga!

But if it was a seizure, it could happen again - or not. There is no sign at this stage of epilepsy, but the more seizures she has the more likely she is to develop epilepsy in later life. They don't feel they need to do anything further at this stage, but if R was to experience more episodes then they would obviously see if there was anything further they needed to do. But we pray that it was a one off.

She is most susceptible when tired, ill, has a fever... So we will never leave home without a sachet of Calpol close by, and we may tape one of those forehead thermometers permanently in place, and even when R is 16 she will need to be in bed by 8!

Since coming out of hospital R has been fine, a perfectly normal five year old. She loves school and Girls' Brigade, and as you'll see from the photos a few days ago we had a great summer holiday.

Although there is of course some uncertainty over the future, and it is impossible to monitor a child all the time, we can see how God has looked after R so far, in her (to quote the consultant) short and eventful life, and we thank God that we can trust him for the future.

Oh yes...we also found out today that R also has a hole in the heart - but it's only small and will sort itself out in time!

Wordle

Here's a wordle based on my notes for last Sunday's family service. We were looking at teamwork - and how we all can be involved in the work of sharing the good news of Jesus with others.

Summer Holidays part 3

A relaxing picnic after an exhausting morning at Castle Drogo, in Devon.

Here the girls are pretending to drive a steam train at the South Devon Railway at Buckfastleigh.

Aboard the train for the trip to Totnes and back.

And if you wondered how we managed to get all the camping stuff and everything else and everyone else in the car...

Whoever said camping was about travelling light!

Summer Holidays part 2

Other activities at Leading Edge included face painting...

...making masks from paper plates...

and singing.


From Warwick it was on to Devon for the second week. Here R has found something to read at Exeter Cathedral.


And in Nanny's kitchen A has found the Tupperware cupboard.

Summer Holidays part 1

The first week of our summer holiday this year was spent camping at Warwick School with about 900 other people for Leading Edge. Leading Edge is a week long event organised by the Baptist Union and Viz-a-Viz - who run an excellent children's programme for the whole week. The children had activities every morning, whilst there were Bible Studies and seminars for the adults; a variety of activities were arranged in the afternoons; and in the evenings there were celebration events. Here are a few photos from the week.

On one of the afternoons we went along to an African Drumming session - which the girls really enjoyed.

Thursday was left free all day so we took the chance to visit Warwick Castle (courtesy of Mr Tesco). Here R, A and I are about to begin the ascent of the tower - the carrier only got stuck once on the narrow spiral staircase. I think it was 530 steps.

This huge device is the Trebuchet. Here it has just been fired - you can see the fire ball on the left which will shortly be flung into the air as the arm comes over. To give you some idea of the size - the wheel at the base of the device is like a large hamster wheel - two men get it to the one this side, and two the other (the wheels are not quite twice the height of a man) and they run, making the wheels turn, which tightens the rope pulling the arm back.

Here S is trying to get her hands on someone's cream tea.

There's no way that sword is coming out

We don't normally trust S with a pair of scissors.

Warwick Castle - a great day out - worth a visit if you're in the area - and you can use Tesco vouchers to get in for 1/4 of the normal price.

What's the Hurry?

Banner

When it comes to making cards, scrap booking and other crafts - I'm not the person to speak to. All that sort of thing is best left to others, including my wife. So when it comes to planning craft activities for our Holiday Club I am often a sceptical on looker - wondering how these ideas are going to come together, within the time scale of each morning, and within our overall budget.

But one thing we have seen over the few years we have been running our holiday club is that all of the children enjoy the craft. Both the boys and girls really get in to it, whether they are at the bottom or top end of the age range.

This year one of the bright ideas was to make a banner, that would eventually be hung permanently within the church. The children would be given a felt square and letter, and various other bits such as small felt shapes and buttons which they would use to decorate their square.

We weren't really sure how well it would turn out - but the children loved it, and as you can see the result is amazing.

Now all that needs to be done is for all the squares to be sewn onto the backing material.