Snow fell onto the pavements and roads.
The view through my window at home in West London was
soothing and reassuring. The city seemed to be that little bit more silent even
though it was as busy as ever on the main road where I lived.
I was thinking.
Thinking very hard.
So the smoothness of the wintry evening outside helped to
keep my mind clear.
And.
I needed it.
Yeah.
I needed a clear mind.
I had a major decision to make. I had been a Salvation Army
minister for close on fifteen years including my stint at College in London.
The feeling I had was that it was time to move out and move
on was so overwhelming that I was having trouble trusting my feelings. I was
wondering in my heart where the Salvation Army in the UK was heading. My overriding
sense was that it was heading into a place called nowhere really. But that was
probably just me and the circumstances that I found myself in at that time. However,
the reality was I didn’t do well with insane decisions leadership made time
after time. I didn’t do well with the archaic regulations that only serve to
stifle not affirm. I didn’t do well with theologians who if they are good sound
like they have the key to eternal life themselves. In short I didn’t fit very
well as a SA minister.
I love simplicity not complexity.
While I was deep in thought, being tossed about the shall I
leave or shall I stay question that I was asking God to help me with a
flashback came from nowhere.
A flashback that had the clarity of a UHD Movie.
I remembered the night I had to make another big decision! I
was on a freezing street in Liverpool City centre when I came across a homeless
guy in a doorway. His head was blue with cold and he only had a thin jumper on.
Something told me this guy was in trouble and that he could actually die with
those type of temperatures. Earlier that day I had bought myself a really nice
coat that had cost a lot of money. I had it on that night. I felt an argument
start in my head. Shall I give him my new coat or should I keep it and walk on.
I had no choice! I gave him my new coat. I gave him my coat and took him to McDonalds
for a coffee and some food.
Maybe a simple act of kindness would save a life?
As I remembered this.
I knew I had to step away from the complexity of organised
religion. I knew a simple faith, a simple mission, a simple love was God
requires of me.
I know there are many ministers who operate in the organised
religion of the denominations are brilliant at doing so and could easily argue
that they live and operate a simple faith, and please this is only my experience that I am sharing, but I wasn’t really cut out for that
stuff.
So since I have stepped out in faith, out of the security of
the Salvation Army with its comforts and safety, I have found some perspective,
I have found some peace, I have found my relationship with God has developed in
a completely new way, more like a friendship than a theology.
And.
I think I needed that.
I think soon I can return to the church a different person,
stronger, more resilient and more effective.
The simplicity of a relationship with Jesus is massive.
Religion complicated it way too much for me to handle. It seems to me when I
grasped the real essence of a relationship with God, breathed it in, allowed it
to change me, my task to help people to know Jesus has become easier and way
more understandable to a world who need to know.
Hey.
So.
If my advice counts for anything with you? I would ask
yourself, “How complicated is my relationship with God?
If it is pretty complex.
Have a clean out.
Get rid of the clutter and enjoy the friendship of Jesus.
Hey thanks for reading.
