Simple things

Paul breezed in exactly at 10am.

He starts his two hour shift straight away.

Today, he has to continue dismantling an old recliner chair that will be going to the recycling centre in due course.

Paul has some mental health issues and severe learning deficits.

But

Every Tuesday for the last twenty odd years he has attended St Paul's Centre to do his little job.

It was my privilege on Tuesday to take care of him for the morning.

I got out his mat that he kneels on and laid out some tools that he needs, a set of metal Allen keys and a few screwdrivers, then showed him which screws he needed to work on that morning. Once he was started he put his head down and worked for two hours solid.

As I watched him from time to time from my office that lies adjacent to where he works, I had this amazing flood of memories from the files stored deep in my memory of the hundreds of similar images from my ministry.

And

I had this real clarity about  how the simple things that we as the Church do to just help people along in their life journeys make such a massive difference in this world. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to spend the rest of my days just lavishing the love of Jesus on to the whosoever.

Simple things.

The pure and simple love of Jesus does not need Theology, doctrine and other intellectual fads to back it up or indeed make it work.

It's just.

Simple.

Paul has been given this opportunity that he may never have had if it wasn't for the simple love of Jesus. This love helps him to feel loved, useful and whole.

And

I watch him leave dead on 12 midday.

He leaves  laughing and muttering to himself, he seems content and satisfied.

It so reminded me on Tuesday of how much I was recapturing my sense of mission and purpose while I'm on this earth.

It may well be that I go back into my ministry soon.

It may well be,.

But

I don't think I've ever stopped really.

I was also reminded that we as a Church, are the whole body of Christ. His eyes, ears, his mouth.

And

It doesn't have to be intricate, brilliant Mission planning that will help us to touch lives in a profound way.

No

It's the simple things

Overcomer

Here I am

Sitting at a desk located in the upper rooms of an old Victorian Church in Crewe, England.

Behind my blue and uncomfortable old office chair is the most amazingly colourful stained glass window ever. It's a depiction of the scripture "Suffer the little children to come unto me", captured in superb dark greens, reds, yellows, golds and frosted clear glass. I am so blessed to be right here right now. The window was crafted back in 1910 and dedicated to some former vicar of this church at the turn of the twentieth century and projects the most vivid and colourful light shows daily onto my computer screens.

Today I am feeling optimistic.

I have no idea why.

I just do.

I haven't had that feeling you can sometimes get, that feeling that gives you a hunch something amazing is about to happen.

But

today?

I feel like light is shining on me, stoking the fire of my creative and visionary side.

My scripture this morning was simple.

"Build up, Build up! Prepare the road, remove the obstacles out of the way of my people!" (Isaiah 57:14)

Hey

I've been ready for sometime to hoist the sails on my ministry and let the breezes of the Spirit catch a hold of them and take me to where God would have me be for a time such as this, the here, the now.

But

There are obstacles.

I need finance for the vision God has laid on me and I have none! I am ready to write and know I need the time and space to allow the Spirit of God to take a hold of my heart, head, and my right hand to scribe the words that I know are bursting to flow outwards to those who need to hear them. I also am starting to fill up on speaking engagements which I have taken a back step from for the last year or so.

yet

There are things in the way.

Finance

Time

Space

Hey

But this scripture hit me like a thunderclap.

Build up, build up, prepare the road, remove the obstacles out of the way of my people!"

Yeah

Words direct from the heart of God.

I am challenged to day that I need to start building my ministry back up again.

And?

That God can remove the obstacles that get in the way of our forward path in life.

He sees the bigger picture

He can see right through the obstacle strewn pathways that so often make our lives not as effective as they could be.

So

Hey

let God take control.

Trust him with the bigger picture.

Whatever is stopping us from moving forwards? Start building for the future anyway and He will carve out your pathway, Shine light on it even.

Be encouraged today.

Be an over comer