Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Baptism

Our Church here in Milton Keynes continues to grow. This week we had a great baptism service where two ladies shared how their lives had been changed through an encounter with Jesus.

It took me back to my own baptism when I was only 13. Nowadays we construct a small pool in our church which we use. Growing up a stones throw from the North Sea we held our baptism services on the sea shore. They were great occations when many of the villagers turned up to watch the spectacle even though they never usually attended church. My memory maybe playing tricks but I think there was around 1000 people on that Sunday when I along with a few of my friends declared to everyone around that Jesus was number one in our lives.

I also remember that the sewerage pipe which dispensed all of the villages waste into the North Was quite close to the site of our service. With the tide in and the waves rolling in you were never quite sure what might float past. Enough said.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Opportunities Galore

With Chrismas a mere memory and having returned to work after the the New Year in Scotland my thoughts are turning towards the year ahead.

I am excited about all the opportunities that lie ahead and the fact that I have a free hand to write the script. I am sure challanges and difficulties will be there but I am also confident that I am able to meet them when they come with God's help.

With desire and comitment I want to follow Jesus in 06. My desire for this year is summed up in the heart cry of the Apostle Paul writing to Phillipian believers. He had worked hard to connect to god by doing what he though God wanted him to do without sucess. Then he was confronted with an encounter with Jesus that changed his whole value system. On looking at his vervent religious activity to gain God's approval he counted it as dog dung.

We realised that he was being called into a radical relationship of love with Jesus which was not about rules and regulations but a love affair. He said that the object of his life now was to get to know Jesus in an intimate way. To be transformed on an ongoing basis so that his desires and passions would become the same as God's.

I have a number of specific goals I want to achive this year wich include personal, family and church but to radically follow Jesus and His example is my highest goal.