At least we can all say that. Matt Chandler is one of the great Biblical preachers of the next generation (next after mine that is of course - don't ask whether there are any in mine . . .!). On Thanksgiving Day (late November) he suddenly collapsed. Which introduces you to Matt's health blog.
What marks this out is that Matt faithfully reflects the goodness of God in a context where many people, and - let's be honest - too many Christians only ask questions instead of looking at blessings. This is a story that is sad but, thanks be to God, certain to have a happy ending.
You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvellous! Of this I have no doubt.
This is what the Psalmist said to God. Let me add my tip for each baby-to-be-born. Head for Panama. After you're born, it will be safe to come back.
Last night at church we thought about prophecy. At the birth of the church Peter quoted Joel's prophecy,
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
Every believer has a capacity, and therefore a responsibility, to listen, wait, search for the 'now' voice of God. This prophetic element will not contradict the perfect word of the Bible, but will bring its application up-to-date in our lives and community.
Speaking of which, today is that rare thing - a day named after a Baptist minister! On Martin Luther King Day let's have a quote from him,
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. [1963]
Prophetic people are the only ones who have a more powerful voice inside than all the cacophony of voices outside. They are a precious resource, but only if they will listen to that Voice. And the Voice does not always say what we most want to hear.
The earthquake in Haiti makes Christians think. Mostly it makes us think, 'How can we help?'. For some, young in the faith, it rocks their confidence that God is Love. That is not easily answered on a blog but a big clue comes from the Biblical statement that the greatest demonstration of God's love to disobedient human beings was not a new baby, a wonderful meal, a fine climate or the end of a great war. It was a crucifixion.
Earthquakes are not easy, either, for people who oppose faith. The people of Haiti might be feeling very angry with their Creator just now. Better, though, to be a bewildered believer than to think of oneself as a self-contained blip among billions of others on an accidental fabric of meaningless history where incidental earthquakes take tens of thousands of other blips, including your family, out early.
If you click on to the Disasters Emergency Committee website you find that almost every charity there owes its existence to people of Faith. As it happens several of them, including ActionAid and Help the Aged, owe their existence in some measure to one man! CJC's legacy is helping Haiti 30 years after his own death.
As my car spends its eighth day stuck on the driveway and the snow continues to fall, here is a clip that neatly symbolises the effect of snowfall and ice on Wycombe over the last week . . .
Last night it was -9 degrees in Wycombe. The snow is nearly a foot deep on our lawn. Not a lot is happening around town just now. But this was January 6th, and that reminds me . . .
If you have the time and incliniation to read this link you will find that, even though human beings in their inabilities no longer work when the winter strangles them in her icy grip, the Great Maker of Winter will still be at work.
On Sunday morning I referenced the story of Kenneth Adams (and Jessie his wife) who founded what is now a worldwide network of Christian bookshops. Their's was an inspiring story of faith
What I find interesting is that this story began in a small property in Colchester, Essex on November 1 1941. Anything else going on at the time? Well, the German Army was still trying to march on Moscow. The British and Allies were preparing in two weeks to launch what now appears unfortunately-named Operation Crusader to capture Tobruk in North Africa. Thousands of miles East the Japanese were preparing for the momentous attack on America's Pearl Harbor in a month's time.
Strange, isn't it? The German Army never reached Moscow, despite commiting its whole strength to the task. The British and Germans are long gone from, and not very welcome in Libya, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor backfired spectacularly resulting in their land being the first, and to date only, place that has suffered nuclear war.
But there are still CLC bookshops carrying out their intended purpose.
And one other thing. The bookshops were once spoken of as a 'spiritual Woolworths'. This would have seemed a bit ridiculous as you walked into a little Christian Bookshop dwarfed by the large Woolworths store down the street. But again, CLC Bookshops have lasted rather better than Woolworths, which entered High Street oblivion a year ago.
I suppose, in a similar manner, Caesar Augustus would be surprised to find that so many people have recently been singing about a baby born in an obscure building in an obscure town in one of his obscure Eastern provinces. And not a single song about him.
You really cannot tell what God might be up to with small things.
I wasn't sure when I'd blog this clip that I found a few weeks ago.
Then I turned up, with my family, for the Wycombe Baptist Churches New Year Breakfast and Prayer Meeting. With the cook and (the total this from six churches) seven others.
Seven! That's only seven more than the National Secular Society get to their Prayer Meetings! What were the rest of the hundreds of Christians from the Baptist Churches in Wycombe thinking of this morning? I don't know, but to add insult to injury we passed two of them on their way to the shops.
Somehow - and this is only January 2 - I can't help thinking I won't have to face the stress and stimulus of pastoring in a revival situation this year . . .
As I type this I am in 2009. When you read it you'll be in 2010. Lots of people I love and you love will never be in 2010. None of us will again be in 2009. Ever. None of us were in 1910. None of us will be in 2100 (how are they going to say that, by the way?).
My mother often used tiswas to describe when she or someone was in a state of confusion. As human beings on a night like this we hardly know whether we are in one year or the next. What we do know is that we are very limited indeed.
Which is why it's good that Father God, who was and is and is to come, has no such limitations . . .
