Happy Birthday Leaplings!

Ah yes, today is that day that occurs just in a Leap Year and those who are born today are, it is said, leaplings.  Among their ranks was Sir James Milne Wilson, sometime Premier of Tasmania.  Sir James added to his rare birthday the unlikely additional note that he also died on February 29th.  This seems a vanishingly small probability for a human being.

A vanishingly small probability for a human being until you do the maths.  Dying on your birthday may be a miserable thought but the chances are generally about 1 in 365.  Your birthday being February 29th and dying on in later years is about 1 in 2.1 million.  Not likely then, but hardly unimaginable odds.

In fact it is almost exactly the same as the odds that your ticket will win £100,000 in the UK Lottery.  Rather grimly we are a thousand times more likely to have a fatal slip in a bath or shower, and ten thousand times more likely to have our identity stolen . . .

As I pointed out in a talk I gave yesterday, the really big odds thing is what Jesus did.  By taking back his life from the dead ('it was impossible for death to hold him') he produced a unique day.  Which is why millions of Christians worship each week on that day, Sunday.  In the human story it has become more singular and more significant than this weirdest of calendar days.

Koz

Koz sat down at the end of a long, hot day.  The sun had been unusually strong, and the work very hard.  He mopped his brow and prepared himself for dinner, reminding his boys that they should clean their hands too.  Dinner would be taken as the stars began to light the dark Eastern night.  Koz was proud of his boys and expected that his family, though certainly not the one of the greatest, would have a secure and growing future.

5 Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah. 

6 Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni and Haahashtari. These were the descendants of Naarah.

7 The sons of Helah: Zereth, Zohar, Ethnan, 

8 and Koz, who was the father of Anub and Hazzobebah and of the clans of Aharhel son of Harum.

9 Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’ 

10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.

A few years one American preacher managed to build one of those embarrassing evangelical empires around two verses that shine out amid the names in 1 Chronicles chapter 4 - the prayer of Jabez (you could even buy a Prayer of Jabez key ring or mug).   Jabez is only mentioned here in the Bible but his North American attraction is that he prayed for God to enlarge his territory - and God did.  I'm mildly surprised Mr Trump hasn't referenced this but I think his marriage of convenience with the Bible probably doesn't reach as far as Jabez. 

Near Jabez's little island of meaning in an ocean of genealogical names are of course many other names and with a detailed commentary even some of these names yield fascinating details.  The one that gripped me though did so because his name seemed very 21st century (and certainly easy to pronounce) - Koz. 

He had never, and would never, be a subject of eccentric Bible entrepreneurs.  Only this could be said of him - that in his day he was a significant figure in his growing, but minor, clan and that God has arranged that, unlike any modern preacher, or Shakespeare, Nero, or Alexander the Great, Koz’s name appears in the Word of God.

I like to think that Koz and others are in Scripture precisely because their names are like a church rota.  When the story of a church is written the priests, vicars or pastors (even the naughty ones) are listed, the organist who was pulled stops for 50 years, the woman who began the Girl Guides and the local dignitary who opened the new hall.  The rest?  Well, Jesus may know his sheep by name but they are passed over on earth into congregational historical anonymity.

For all of us threatened with genealogical anonymity there is the encouraging thought that most of the names in Scripture are of people as unknown as Koz.  Yet they and we are all known and all matter to our Lord.

Mirrored

"Mirror, mirror on the wall,

Who is the fairest of them all?"

The wicked queen wanted to know.  But mirrors have a funny way of cutting us down to size.

The most obvious way they do this is by telling us, more honestly than a friend might, what we look like.

But the more interesting way, for me at least, was the one I first heard of some time ago and was reminded of in an article this past week.  When we look at our face in a mirror it is about half the size of our real face.  If you didn't know that then, like me the first time I heard it, you won't believe it.  And when you go to the mirror with your tape measure you'll find that it's true.

When we look at our lives in the mirror of Christ in Lent we also find ourselves diminishing.  Not in a harmful way or out of existence.  Just so that there is more room to see past myself to Someone greater and something better.

A Christian's Story

What would you write if you knew you were about to die?  David Bowie recorded a song: a Christian friend of one of my friends wrote this on her IPad:

If this is being read in public domain that means I have passed from this life and entered into eternity- into the presence of the Almighty God- the maker of Heaven and of earth. WOW... Hold on- a human, a mortal can stand and not only stand but live in the presence of this Almighty Lord?! Yes. My life on earth has been leading up to this point- the point where I see His Glory! Where I meet my precious Saviour who died for me before I had been born and while I was still in my sin. The Lord, when he formed me in my mother's womb, knit together my body, chose my eye colour, my personality, gave me talents and knew ALL about me, even what would make me laugh (all unknown to my earthly parents)... He also knew my whole life, he knew each day I would be breathing oxygen in my lungs, he knew every decision I would make, including whether I would choose to follow Him or not.

[...] So what then comes after? Nothing? Do you really believe that because my organs have ceased to work- that the life in me, just died too?! We are more than just flesh, than an animal... We are different and higher than a mere animal because we were granted a soul. A Soul that will live on forever. The question is- where? I believe as this is read I am in the presence of God, and it is here I will spend eternity. No pain, no sickness, no hurt, no disappointment, fully satisfied with my creator, in full joy and fullness of life. So why can I say this with confidence before I have even departed?? [...]

Here is my story... I grew up hearing of Jesus, God and going to church, I knew it all, and I do believe I made a profession of faith as a child; however I don't think I knew enough about what I had actually decided. I am thankful for my parents who instilled in me godly morals, which kept me on many occasions from doing really silly things... That being said, when I turned 18- I wanted to break free from what I thought was an oppressive upbringing.. So I rebelled...[...]

I was literally running in the opposite way from God..but as I woke up on the Friday morning after little sleep, too much alcohol and partying... Before I felt hungover or tired I felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness. In his great mercy God came to me that morning and not audibly, but in my soul I heard him loving whisper 'what are you doing and where are you going?' . . .[...]

For those of you who know Jesus... I will see you on the other side. Please don't mourn for me... I am free from cancer, free from seizures and more fulfilled and happy than any moment I ever had on earth. As I write this I can't even imagine how amazing this will be, because I've had many, many wonderful times and experiences in my life! I am sure there will be days when you miss me...but please please, please don't let those moments take away from each precious moment that you have, don't let my passing cause you to stumble in your faith. Let it strengthen your faith that God IS real and HE has a purpose for you on this earth!! Enjoy each moment you have and try to keep an eternal perspective, how can you bring God more Glory?

For those of you who are suffering, I feel one of the purposes of my illness was to teach me about suffering. Firstly, no matter how bad, it will never compare to the suffering Jesus faced on the cross, being separated from that father connection, not to mention the physical suffering...because Jesus experienced that suffering He can identify with you as you struggle, so cling to Him. And Trust him no matter what. He is in control despite our lack of understanding.... Be patient, one day when on this side of eternity you will understand. . [...]