Clan

i am really looking forward to this week. i am spending a couple of days at Clan. On Wednesday i am going to the leaders lunch and on Thursday i am doing an All That Jazz seminar. I am really looking to what God might be saying and i am praying for discernment. All that Jazz has created a fair bit of interest and i have been doing some interview stuff. It also felt good to see my article for Christianity in print.Look out for the August edition.
I was down in Cumnock at the weekend at a family wedding. It was great to catch up with folks and I hope that the Lord uses Amy and Peter in the tears to come/

What do you want me to do for you 2

Since the last post i have been thinking about the question Jesus asked James and John, " what do you want me to do for you?" I said in the last post that i wondered how we might answer that question. If Jesus were to ask us the same thing today then what is really on our hearts. Would our answer show a passion for salvation, justice, personal holiness or some other secret hope or desire. Then i began to wonder what Jesus would say if i were to ask Him what he wanted me to do for Him. I think it is worth reflecting upon. What is Jesus desire for me and my life? What would he have me do today? What is the Lord's will for your life at this point?

what do you want me to do?

I have been preparing some stuff for preaching on Sunday and then do seminars over the summer at Clan and other places. The study for the preaching is good as it gets me away from the "All that Jazz" stuff for a little while. I have been thinking about the passage in Mark 10 when James and John come to Jesus and ask a favour. Jesus replies with "what do you want me to do for you?" What a question. I wondered how you might answer it. Would our answers be ones that actually warm the heart of God? James and John kind of blew it because they wanted a little bit of power or prestige. i guess they wanted something for themselves rather than for the Kingdom. I can identify with that. I am not sure my first response to Jesus question would be for His glory rather than for mine. It seems to me that our requests may shine some light on our real passions and ambitions.
what do you think?

we all stand together

I have been away at a staff get together for a couple of days. It was pretty good. It is encouraging to hear what god is doing in Ireland and wales. It is also great to catch up with brothers and sisters from other parts of the UK. It is amazing the way in which we just click with some folks, you can not see people for a while and yet there is a connection whenever you get together. I guess it is a sign of grace, tat God gives us people who enable us to be encouraged and also help to remind us that to follow Jesus can be fun.
On a side issue what is it with Christians and ceilidhs. The team planned a staff social night which they spent a lot of time on.However, it was a ceilidh. I wish i had a pound for every Christian event/conference/camp that has ended with a ceiliidh, I don't get it. Do we think that tere is something spiritual about it- perhaps Colomba danced it in a celtic form hundreds of years ago. Maybe there is a theology behinfd dancing the Gay Gordons i give up.
Anyway, the good thing of the time away was the real sense that God is at work, sometimes in really exciting and unexpected ways. We get involved in the work best when we work together.