Pilgrim's Progress

The Last Temptation

   

I heard yesterday of a(nother) very well-known figure in the Christian world who has run aground morally. If anyone seemed to be beyond this kind of moral failure ... I pray he can be restored somehow. (I won't be publishing a name here).

It so happens that I'm preaching tomorrow on the Temptation of Christ ... it struck me that Christ was only ever one choice away from losing it all, and so are you and I. It really is as close as that. This Christian brother has made some bad choices, but it could be any of us.

"Let him who thinks he stands watch out, lest he fall ..."

Click here for a wallpaper size (1024x768) of the above image.

Still in Pursuit of REAL

No, it's not a photo - it's an imitation of reality, using 3d rendering software, the kind used to make Toy Story.

We're quite good as human beings at inventing our own realities. Anything from daydreaming, to wishful thinking, to fantasy, to denial, to neurosis, to schizophrenia, to psychosis or worse. Anything to avoid facing up to the REAL reality.

In 3 weeks time I will come to the end of my first job as a church leader, and in that time I have been made to face reality, both about myself, other people, the world ... and this journey into REAL has been a freeing and a humbling one, it's given me hope and freedom, but it has stripped me right down and shown me the measure of myself, both strengths and weaknesses. I don't say this lightly, but I wouldn't have it any other way ...

This past 4 years has left me with a burning desire to tell the truth, no matter how difficult or unwanted it might be, and has made it very difficult to tolerate politics, game playing, superficiality, insincerity, professionalism in church life, small talk ... Life is too short to play around ...

Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

Abba, Where Did You Go?

O God, you are my God ... earnestly I seek you ... do not hide your face from me!
(Ps 63:1, 27:9, 102:2)

I've searched and searched, done everything I know how to do, but these last few days, I just haven't managed to find my way home to the Father's house.

Know the feeling? That strange cocktail of longing, and coldness, and emptiness, and disappointment, desire, wondering what you might have done, hope ...

(Click here for a wallpaper size version of this image - 1024x768 )

Refiner's Fire

Similar image to yesterday, for a reason. Being carried and being refined tend to go together.

"My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in."
(Prov 3:11-12)

Carried

Something's been carrying me these last few months ... I think I know who's behind it, with a little help from my friends of course :o)

Click on the image for a medium size (640x480) or click here to view a full size image (1024x768).

But there's another side to it too ... I can say it best with another image. Coming soon!

100 Ways to be Alone, Part 2

I've added a few more ways that people can be alone ... you can click to move on to the next one if you saw yesterday's ones.

This is a work in progress - please leave your thoughts about ways people can be or feel alone, and I'll try to work some of them into the animation.

(Click here or on the animation above to view: Flash 8, 227K)

100 Ways to be Alone

For some reason, I've been thinking a lot about connectedness and loneliness recently. In the UK (so I'm told) 40% of new houses are built for single occupancy. One famous preacher (it might have been Billy Graham) said that the number one social issue of our time was loneliness.

Perhaps "aloneness" is a better word to describe my own mullings. I use it to sum up that inner sense of wanting to be better connected to other people, to God, to the world, but right now something's missing.

Henri Nouwen suggested that loneliness was inescapable - as imperfect human beings we can neither have every need met, nor provide for every need in others, and that until we see God face to face there will always be something of an incompleteness within. Even the best friendship, marriage, parent and so on will never fill the tank to 100%.

So this is a work in progress - I think it is going to grow over time into a larger animation, because it is "pondering in progress" coming from a person in progress, and I keep bumping into people who are looking for something ...

Click here for animation (Best viewed with Flash 8 player - about 224K to view.)