One of those things you see in the mundane movement of everyday life.
So in the five years I've been in Durham, most days I've walked through Millennium square and not really took much notice of it really.
Took notice of what your thinking?
Well.
A statue. (See pic at the bottom of this post)
A replica statue called "The Journey" by Dr Fenwick Lawson which depicts six monks carrying a coffin which contained the relics of Cuthbert, a monastic who became a saint, and who is deeply entwined in the history of the UK Church. The story goes that Vikings invaded the Island of Lindisfarne so a group of monks carried the relics of Cuthbert's body which were apparently so anointed that miracles happened whenever anyone went near them. They carried these old bones and a few precious items in a coffin, fleeing to various places including Melrose, Chester Le Street, Ripon and finally Durham, where he is buried in the Cathedral in an elaborate shrine, that draws pilgrims from all over the world.
I pass this statue every working day.
This morning it kind of drew my gaze.
And an overwhelming sense of God speaking enveloped me.
And what I saw was where I've been at this last week or so.
I saw a group of blokes carrying something dead.
I imagined how carrying this from an Island on the North East Coast to various places which are miles away from it must have been.
Carrying a dead weight about.
It must have been a complete trial.
It must have slowed them down.
Burdened them.
Weighed them down.
Of course there is a side to this that speaks about faithfulness and devotion and respect.
But really what I saw this morning was a group of weary monks, who are tired of carrying something dead around.
For what must have been years.
They were trying to carry something from the past around with them.
Holding onto it with everything they had.
And it looks heavy.
I wrote in my last blog post that I felt a real pull back to the past when I went home for a funeral last week.
And this last week has been a bit burdensome for me.
The past weighing me down.
I've started carrying something from the past around with me..
The Spirit of God speaks into my life this day that my past is actually a dead thing.
And I need to actually put it down.
Now.
So I can journey around quicker and more efficiently, so I can claim what is new, so I can break into new ground without carrying a dead weight into my future.
My head clicked into a scripture.
Matthew 8: 18-22
When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. When a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head." Another disciple said to him, "First let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
I was reminded of the initial awe and amazement I felt when I first gave my life to Jesus. I knew I was crossing to the other side of the lake as it were. I knew God ordered me to walk from the place I was standing to a new place with him. A new life. A completely changed life.
And I committed right there and then to follow him.
The feeling enveloped my very being causing excitement and wonderment that just hadn't been part of my life up until that point.
This week though, I've kind of been in the "First let me bury my father" mode. In other words "Yeah I will follow you God but I have this heavy weight from the past, first let me deal with that."
Then today God hit me with a gaze upon a frankly spooky statue.
I hate it when he does that kind of thing!
He gets it right every time!
How annoying!
Yet?
How incredible.
The fact is Dawn and I will be breaking new ground in 2013. We will be walking into new things, new situations, a new phase.
God says to me in a way that you just know that its him speaking, "You have to Drop the dead thing Gary!"
He says, "You can't take it with you."
And so as he shared that personal order with me, I laid it at the foot of the cross today.
And it feels so much lighter.
So I felt that this may help someone out there today too.
What is that dead thing you are trying to take with you into your future.
Is it something from the past?
Is it a blast from the past?
Is it a thing you are holding onto with all your might, but its actually dead?
Is it heavy and tiresome and frankly getting in the way of your life's journey.
Are you called to follow God but need to sort a shed load of stuff out first?
It's probably dead in the shed actually.
The Spirit of God says this today.
"Drop the dead thing."
I pray downpour of strength on our lives today to be able to put the dead things of the past down and walk away from them.
Forever.
