Hometown

Boxes lay everywhere.

It will take a couple of days to get straight.

It's our fifth move in twenty years.

This time?

To Manchester.

Dawn and I were so tired last night. So, we rigged up the TV and fired Netflix onto the screen. The new TV stand hasn't arrived so the 65 inch slab of black rested on the floor. 

We flipped through the watch options. 

We settled on a comedy.

Eurovision: The story of Fire Saga.

It's a family thing to watch Eurovision every year. 

So

We loved every minute of this film. 

And

You have to watch it!

The story focuses on a pair of friends who have grown up in the tiny mesmeric village of Husavik in Iceland. The guy makes it his lifes goal to win Eurovision. The girl, supremely talented would love to be in it, but isn't struck on winning. She just wants to win the guys heart. 

I won't tell you the rest of the story, I am not a spoiler!

But

One thing I will say, it has a spine tingling ending. 

Spine tingling because they sing a song about their hometown. 

A breathtaking song actually sung by the brilliant Swedish voice over artist and singer, Molly Sanden. 

Wow I was touched beyond reason. 

There is a line in this song that says, "I had to get away, to realise I had to stay."

This resonated with me in stunning high definition.

As I prepare to take the reigns of a new project for us in trying to transform a small inner City Church in central Manchester housed in a massive building into a powerhouse of Christian love and mission, something Dawn and I are used to from our past appointments together. I realised why I had to resign in 2015.

I had to get away from the SA to realise I actually had to stay. 

Being brutally honest, and please I mean no disrespect by what I am about to say, really I don't, it's just me, and my feelings alone, but I just not into tradition, brass bands, songsters, flags, uniforms, officers retreats, councils,  people who still think wearing a hat is relevant, and all the many other trappings of traditionalism that the SA hang on to for dear life. So, why come back then? I can hear you saying it now! Well I'm with you on that. It's something I struggled with in private as I argued with God about coming back. 

But

I also respect that there are those who love those things too. 

And

There are so many beautiful people in the SA that have been so good to me, I wouldn't want to disrespect them either.

Yet!

I had to come back.

Why?

Because being away helped me to realise that I still believed in the purpose of the SA.

To touch the lives of millions through the love of Jesus. 

And

Despite my misgivings about the traditions, and my not wanting to upset anyone who holds them dear?

And

Despite me not being a really good fit, and knowing that many people think that, and seem to love to let me know!

God called me back

And

Opened the way for me to do so.

I said to God, "if I get through the process of coming back then I will."

And 

Miraculously

I'm here now. 

Ready

Not for tradition

But to help as many people as I can discover the amazing love of an astonishing Saviour. 

And

On a recent reconnaissance trip around the streets of central Manchester, I saw the need. I saw the opportunity, and I felt the purpose. 

Once again I feel excited, something I never thought I would feel in the Salvation Army again. I know Dawn and I will have to lovingly turn Manchester Central on its head and that is a massive task. 

But

God is with us.

And I realised something

The Salvation Army with God as it's leader, and the world wide mission field is my hometown. 

It's where my family has lived for five generations, it's where I have served my whole life. 

And

It is where I want to be right now. 

My hometown

Be blessed

Gaz

Contemplations

The past has been a blast

No wait

Occasionally it has,

But,

There have been dark times too.

Yeah,

And,

Bland times.

Times I would change,

And

Others that I wouldn’t.

Probably?

The same as everyone else.

Yet,

This last few months during the pandemic?

I’ve had time to contemplate the past, the present and the future.

Before the virus?

I was busy, I was living a bit frantically, and, I longed for change in my life.

But,

I chugged along regardless.

Then,

Came the lockdown.

Life as I knew it?

Kind of Faded away.

So,

Change crept up on me.

Every day I had time to contemplate, ruminate and explore. Talking with God asking what changes he would have me make.

And

I began to look to the future

One thing I knew for sure within a few weeks was that I wasn’t going to the future the same.

I just can’t.

I need a fresh scene.

And

That is so exciting, so wild, so needed.

I was thinking about church, and my role as a minister.

And

I can’t change the church, I learned that a long time ago.

I used to like to think I could.

And

To be honest I got tired of trying.

But

I can change me.

God can change me.

And

He is constantly changing me form glory to glory.

Therefore,

The future has to be different

Yet

The mission remains the same

God’s mission

“To bring good news to the poor

To comfort the broken hearted

To proclaim that captives will be released

And prisoners will be released.” (Isaiah 61)

And so

It is with fantastic anticipation that I head towards the future.

Waiting there are new ways of joining God’s mission.

Waiting there are exciting new opportunities
Waiting there are people who desperately need a saviour.

Waiting there are victories so amazing that we cannot take them in.

But

One thing is for sure

We cannot stay the same

Every life matters

Witnessing the footage of George Floyd being restrained by a policeman using a sickening technique of kneeling on his neck, then watching him pleading for his life repeatedly shouting “I can’t breathe,” sent a message to the world that injustice such as that is inherently evil.

Black lives matter

That is a fact that is absolute

In fact

Every life matters.

I stand in these words with all those black people who are fed up with the injustice they have suffered for decades.

Enough is enough

And

I stand with them.

Listen

The human race is just that, human.

There is no hierarchy or layered order of things other than what man creates.

God created us equal.

Every life matters to him

Every life should matter to each other

For all the injustice of the past, slavery, segregation, apartheid and every other kind of evil act that has stuck to history like a malignant deposit, then understand this, love, respect and justice will win in the end.

Victory will come when man lays down his differences and loves his fellow man no matter what race, creed, colour or views a person may have.

As I viewed the footage on my iPad of George Floyd pleading for air, I paused the scene and looked straight into his frightened eyes. In that moment I saw the pain of a downtrodden society. I saw the injustice of a world full of false power and misplaced judgement and hate. I saw a human being, a life that matters being stifled by a mad man using his position to inflict maximum suffering.

Every life matters

We are all the same

Human beings

I also saw something else as I looked into Mr Floyd's eyes.

I saw Jesus.

George Floyd’s pain was identical to a man who two thousand years ago got nailed to a cross because of injustice and mad men’s positional deployment of maximum suffering.

Out of that suffering came a love we have never known

Out of that suffering came an opportunity for change like we have never known

Out of that suffering life became meaningful.

Because of that suffering

Every life matters

So

My prayer is that through the death of George Floyd, we will all completely get that enough is enough.

That we will breathe in love for each other no matter what colour, race or religion or whatever.

That we will take this opportunity to change

To make the world we live in a better place

To make our communities safer through respect for one another

And

To know that our life is meaningful.

Every life matters.

Exit Plan

Lockdown

Restrictions, rules, enforcement.

Cabin fever, boredom, longing.

You feel desperate to visit your family and friends.

You get sick of watching TV.

You long for some kind of normality.

It was kind of comforting to listen to the Prime minister say that aroad map is being drawn up to get the country out of lockdown over the coming months.

Yeah, it was like catching a cool breeze of hope on your face.

One of the treasures of the lockdown for me has been the amount of quiet space I’ve had to reflect and think. Sitting often in almost total silence, letting my mind clear itself of the barrage of thoughts that run around inside my head. Letting my gaze focus on Jesus.

It was during one of these quiet moments that God led me to a scripture.

And

I was under no doubt that God wanted me to share it today.

Isaiah 55

As I read this passage which opens, “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost!”

Hey

As I read the whole chapter, it dawned on me that this is the greatest lockdown exit strategy, road, map, or whatever you want to call it.

And

I reflected on the period of time in my own life where I was on a lockdown of a very different type.

A deep, dark and heavy depression that had me lockdown in a place where I would never want to be ever again.

Interestingly, I had the same kind of feelings many of you will be experiencing now.

Cabin fever, a mind-numbing boredom and a longing to be free of it.

I needed an exit plan.

And

This passage of Scripture helped me to find one at the time, and continues to be a map to follow.

I was really lost at that time. I lost all sense of worth, all sense of feeling and all sense of purpose.

But reading these words, especially verses 12¬13, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper, and instead of briars the myrtle will grow. This will be the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”
I remember reading those words, I mean really reading them, almost lectio style, over and over again, letting them flood my being, and letting the living word of God touch my life.

And.

The amazing seeds of hope started to land on me, started to flourish and helped me to see that there was more than just longing to look forward to, but reality awaited my life and was definitely attainable.

So, hey.

This is what I felt the Spirit of God say today.

He gave me a strong feeling that someone needs this boost today.

And.

I suggest you read this whole passage, *Isaiah 55 right now. Read it slow and hard. Push back the distractions. Let these words sink in today.

Maybe you have been floundering a little trapped and locked down not just because of the Coronavirus crisis, but locked down in something in your life that you long to be free of.

Let the spirit of God take you past the peak of your crisis and show you a real and irepressable exit plan right now.

Sky gazing

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” ACTS 1:1-11

Reading this I was transported back in my memory to when I was about nine years old. I pictured myself at Liverpool Airport standing with my parents and other family members on the old viewing platform watching the planes take off. The reason we were there was to say goodbye to my brother Clive who was flying to South Africa where he was going to work for about a year.

I kind of idolised my brother back then and I was devastated at the fact I wouldn't see him for what I thought, being a kid, was forever.

I was truly poleaxed by it.

I was inconsolable.

I remember my old Nan, who was at the airport that day, in her loving but aggressive way that she used to say things, telling me to pull myself together, and stop staring at the sky. She informatively reminded me that the plane wouldn't be coming back, but it would one day.

"You just need to get on with it" she instructed me.

The memory brought a massive smile to my face.

I felt for the disciples who were watching a guy they loved with everything they had, and had worked with, and lived with, ascending into the sky, when two men dressed in white gave them the very same advice my old Nan gave me. "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

And

Fast forward to right now, in the middle of the Coronavirus Crisis.

I began to hear God's loving voice.

Gently speaking things into my heart like, "Now you are locked down, dont stand looking at the sky waiting for normal life to return.

There is work to do!

And

I have been working!

Yeah, Dawn and I have been delivering food, doing shopping for people, distributing bread, checking people are OK and all that stuff, which to be honest has been one of the greatest privileges of my life, but I've also been working on me!

I've been walking at least three miles a day, eating better, relaxing more, reading even more than usual, praying relentlessly.

It has been brilliant.

I am trying to prepare myself Physically, mentally and Spiritually to move to Manchester where I feel God has something massive for Dawn and I to do.

And.

I will come out of this lockdown different than when I went in to it.

Yeah

I haven't just stood still and looked the at the sky.

So

Why am I telling you guys this stuff?

Well

I felt the Spirit of God ask me to share this as to speak into someones life today.

Maybe you have been staring at the sky, so to speak, wishing this whole virus thing would just disappear forever?

Listen to Gary now!!

God says, there is so much work to do both now and in the coming days as we slowly head back towards civilisation!

But

There is a chance for us to work now to become better people, to know God better, to seek his will for our lives going forward.

It would be sad if we came out of this crisis unchanged.

We can't be the same.

Hey

The spirit of God says, "Don't miss this chance, don't stand still. I love you and wanna use you!

So be blessed

Stay safe

Discover all that God would have for you!

Rise Changed

Crisis, National emergency, Global pandemic.

Whatever you want to call it, it's real.

Hey

It is so sad people are dying .

Families are blitzed and hurting. People are seriously ill and many are fighting for their very lives.

Many of us are marooned in our houses, only going out for necessary reasons.

Yet 

Directly in the middle of all of this devastation is God. 

And

In all of the uncertainty of the present, he is the one true constant.

The one true hope.

And

He is still transforming lives, still at work, still on a mission to save this planet.

This week we had a burglary at the Salvation Army hall where my wife Dawn is the minister. There was smashed doors, a broken safe, a right royal mess. We had police and crime scene investigators, and around £300 stolen. I watched the CCTV with a policeman and we saw at ten to three in the morning, a lone shadowy figure, hooded up, scale around the back of the building and dissapear, only to reappear around twenty minutes later and fade into the night.

It didn't feel like God was around at all.

But

As people in the community got to hear about it through the local news, we have had kind people donating five times what had been stolen.

God is astonishing 

And 

He is constantly at work .

And because of that.

We can never stay the same .

And hey

In the centre of the Coronavirus crisis, God is really at work .

I was reading Joel 2 the other day as I've been intensely praying at this time. I've been reading about swarming locusts devouring everything in their way. Hey, it is hard not to compare coronavirus with these locusts.

But

God instructs his people to "rend your hearts", and to turn to him with all our hearts. 

Then

A beautiful promise  

"I will restore to you years that the swarming locust has eaten."

Wow

In the very moment I read these words. The Lord gave me a word for the Salvation Army.

It was this

You cannot come back the same as you were. My mandate is spiritual. My story has you in it. But my mission is to the broken, the powerless, the hopeless and the lost. It's time to step beyond the citadel, beyond the stuff of doing, beyond what we have always thought was the right thing. For too long we were heading inwards, so far inward in fact, oblivion was barely a heart beat away. But I am working to transform people. I am working to host the whosoever in Heaven. In the midst of this global crisis, there is a magnificent opportunity for change. An opportunity you may not see again for a long time. And the change starts in you. My child let me in. Let me give you a heart of flesh. Let me transform you whole. Let me touch you, light the touch paper again. Rise from this crisis reshaped, reformed and restored. I love you .

And

God can do tremendous things.

He will restore the years the locusts have eaten.

Five times the money we had stolen was immediately a reality at Winsford this week.

So

Rise up faithful Army.

But rise differently.

Rise changed.

 

Coronavirus prayer bulletin 6

Coronavirus Prayer Bulletin 31/4/2020

Scripture suggestion: Isaiah 41: 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Today's Prayer points

• Continue to pray for those bereaved as the death rate surged in the UK today. Pray for families and loved ones.
• Pray for those who are ill with corona virus that healing will come.
• Pray for those people stranded abroad and desperately want to come home. Pray for the safe return of these people. Pray they will get flights. Pray for their families as they worry. Thank God for the governments provision of 75 Million Pounds for rescue flights.
• Pray for the police as they try to keep order. Pray that God would give them wisdom.
• Continue to intensify the push back prayer aimed at turning this virus around. Pray we will see diminishing mortality rates and also a declining spread of the virus.
• Continue to pray for those in leadership globally, nationally and locally that wisdom and bravery would be theirs. Pray also that they will have complete clarity on the way forward through this crisis.
• Continue to pray for those who are feeling lonely and depressed in isolation.

Keep praying, keep battling and keep at the forefront of our minds that the Lord tells us not to be afraid, that he is with us and the battle is his.

And

He is victorious always!

Coronavirus prayer bulletin 4

Coronavirus Prayer bulletin 25/02/2020

Scripture suggestion: Psalm 136: A Psalm about thanks to God for being totally astonishing, but if read from a different angle, it reads as a list of totally positive things.

Keep Praying, keep positive.

Today's Prayer Points

• Thank God for measures being brought in to help the self employed.
• Think and pray for all those who are self employed in our Corps, Centres etc
• Pray that their businesses will be able to be blessed with a renewed energy when this crisis is over
• Pray that the help that will be spoke about tomorrow will reach them.
• Thank God for the 405,000 NHS Volunteers who have signed up to help those who desperately need it.
• Pray for those who are isolated and feeling totally alone.
• Continue to pray for those bereaved and those who have Covid 19.
• Keep praying the massive prayer that this virus will be pushed backwards into oblivion.
• Praise God for the key-workers not just those in the NHS but social, service and faith workers (Including those from our own denomination), and those
people who just want to help neighbours etc. who are lavishing essential kindness on those who need help.
• Continue to pray for the government both nationally and our local government that they would be blessed with God’s guidance on decision making.

Yeah, keep praying. Prayer as you guys know is hard work, yet The Lord requires us to be persistent. This is the hard work of prayer. Even when it seems fruitless or a bit on the boring side. But be reminded tonight as we ask can a nation be changed? Can a situation be changed? Can lives be transformed? The answer as we pray relentlessly is a definite yes!! And be assured as we pray it reverberates around and shakes the heavens and will change everything! Hey Stay blessed!

Bright lights

Harvey McKay once said this, "Optimists are right. So are pessimists. Its up to you to choose which one you will be."

Wow

Second day of the Corona virus lock down here in the UK.
Not that ive had chance to notice too much yet, as Dawn and I have been quite busy distributing food parcels and getting shopping in for some of the less able of our community as well as cracking on with the hard work of prayer.

I've chatted pastorally to a few people online and on the phone, and there seems to be a common theme just now as people struggle to adjust to this new approach to life.

It is so easy to allow the negative side of this lock down to consume us.

Pessimism

Pessimism can eat you up and spit you out in a mangled mess if you let it.

And

As Harvey McKay says, Its up to us whether we choose to be a pessimist or an optimist.

So

This choice

Its a straight one

but one that can lead to either the bright lights of a positive future or the darkness of a negative existence

Hey

Its amazing how it is so easy to develop a bias toward negativity. By the same token it is equally amazing how difficult it is to head towards positivity.

Or is it?

It's pretty natural to focus on problems, it's a fact that minds point out the things that are not working, or our perceived flaws or our mistakes, or worse the obstacles that lay in front of us achieving our positive goals.

What is not that natural it seems, is for us to look towards the brighter side of things turning out for the better.

Hey

Here is the thing

Our sense of joy and contentment grow rapidly when we focus on things turning out for the better (Not necessarily for the best) but for the better, in the long run.

And

when things do go wrong, optimism can help us to recover, to cope and to rebuild.

Ask yourselves these three things today and give yourself an honest answer.

1. do you tend to think that not so good circumstances or feelings are here to stay, or do you remind yourselves that this situation will pass and better days are coming?

2. Do negative things tend to consume you and shape your character, or are you able to get a balanced perspective on things?

3. Do you tend to take on board negative things all too easily and blame or accuse yourself for the negativity, or just as bad, blame others or circumstances? Or are you able to see the treasure in the dirt as it were?

If the answer is revealing that maybe pessimism is hampering us, then maybe the key is this;

We need to choose to be optimistic, practice it, embrace it, demonstrate it>

To do that I know from my own healing journey from the depths of despair to a happy and content life that I had to work on and develop resilience.

Resilience is a must have in life.

And

it can be nurtured and developed in any life.

Its your choice

I read this somewhere and can't reference it because I took a photo of it pinned to a wall at some event or other I attended.

It says this

"People with good mental strength take responsibility for their lives. They don't blame others for messing up their day, instead, they take control of their own thoughts, feelings and behaviour. They understand that life isn't always fair or easy, but they dont sit around feeling sorry for themselves. Resilient people acknowledge that everything they do from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep is a choice."

So

Hey

In the middle of this unprecedented time in our history, when maybe someone out there is feeling a bit lost and alone. Have a think about this..

Better days are ahead!

Be resilient.

Embrace maybe the positive things that this exile brings.

It's a choice.

Massive blessings on all my readers this day, and i'm especially praying for you right now.

Coronavirus Prayer bulletin 3

Coronavirus Prayer bulletin 24/03/2020

Scripture: Psalm 27, A Psalm that is about calling on God for protection while remembering he is faithful and reliable

Prayer points for today

• Pray for those who struggle with lockdown. Pray that they will be comforted and reinforced with extra strength.
• Pray especially for the lonely and those who are extremely vulnerable that they will be helped and identified.
• Continue to pray for those who are worried about jobs and businesses.
• 8077 people now have been confirmed with the virus and 422 have died in the UK . Pray for the hand of God to push back the virus and pray that the
current measures in place for British citizens will slow this virus towards oblivion.
• Continue to pray for the healing of people with the virus and comfort for those who have lost loved ones.
• Pray for the flattening and downhill trend of this virus.
• Thank God for the positive stories coming out of this situation and I invite you to reflect on those stories.
• Thank God for the amazing setting up of a 2 ward 2000 capacity field hospital in London (The Nightingale Hospital), and pray for the recruitment of
250000 NHS volunteers to reduce the strain on the NHS.
• Pray directly for a vaccine to be developed as quickly as possible as well as the identification of drugs already in existence that may help in the
fight against Covid-19

Coronovirus Prayer Bulletin 2

Coronavirus prayer bulletin 21/03/20

Scripture today: A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones (Proverbs 17: 22)
It’s not enough to love others with all our heart; make sure we love ourselves and look after ourselves to
Ready to pray?

Today’s Prayer Points
1. The government is discussing and thinking through the possibility of bringing in stricter policy on social distancing.
• Pray for discernment and for the Lord to guide their thinking.
• Pray for those who are minimising the advice given or even ignoring it that they would grasp the seriousness of this outbreak and take

responsibility for actions.
• Pray for those who are struggling with isolation and actions that they would receive strength and clarity.
2. The UK figures right now at time of writing are 281 deaths and over 5000 reported cases. The global death toll is now over 15000.
• Pray for comfort for those who have lost loved ones through this outbreak.
• Pray for healing for those who are fighting this virus after contracting it. Both those in Hospital and those at home.
• Pray for a downturn and flattening out of the spread of the virus in the UK and across the world.
• Thank God for signs of flattening and slowing down of the virus in countries such as Germany.

3. Other nations.
• Pray for those who are struggling in other countries
• Pray for their governments and decision makers that the right measures will be communicated and carried out.
• Pray for a pushing back of the virus globally

4. The economy
• Pray for that the effects of the business closures will be minimised and rapidly built back up.
• Pray for those who are losing jobs and livelihoods.
• Pray for company directors and business leaders that sensible decisions can be reached in order to cope with the losses.
• Pray that the self-employed will receive the appropriate help and quickly.

5. The NHS
• Continue to pray for NHS Staff to be protected from the virus.
• Pray that PPE will be adequately provided and distributed
• Continue to pray for creativity to try to ease over burdens.

Hey, Lord have your way in us and give us the strength to look after ourselves as well as others. Amen