Rocks and sand

Recently we celebrated the start of another new year. People often use this time as a chance to reflect on the year that has been (2016), and to dream about the year to come (2017). I saw one blog post that someone had written about their biggest fear for 2017 - that nothing was going to change and everything would stay as it had been, rather than the new year bringing the hoped-for fresh start. However, whilst I sympathise with the sentiment, as I have been reflecting, I have come to the opposite conclusion - that for me, one of my biggest fears for 2017, is knowing that lots of things ARE about to change (some of which have already started shifting at the end of 2016).

Since leaving home for University, I have moved around a lot and lived in a number of different towns/cities, in a number of different houses within those places, been part of a number of different churches and made a number of amazing friends. Whilst many elements of this have been good, it has also made me anxious to settle somewhere (probably the nesting instinct coming out!) And indeed, I have now lived in my current town (and been in my current job) for longer than any of the other previous places I have lived (other than the places where I grew up). My current job is permanent (at least, for as long as they want to keep me!), and I own a house, both of which add to the illusion of greater permanence. The problem with this, is that whilst I am not necessary completely satisfied with everything about where I am right now, I also find that I have unknowingly let myself become comfortable here, finding security in the (mostly) predictable nature of things around me.

But it is only an illusion of security, sinking sand if you like. Jesus told a story about two men, one of whom built a house on a rock and one of whom built a house on the sand. Unsurprisingly, when the storms came the house on the sand fell (there are many great kids songs about this, with amazing actions and sound effects!), but the house on the firm foundation of the rock continued to stand firm. The more I get to know Jesus, the more I come to know that he didn't just tell us things for the sake of it, to just fill the time with some nice stories to make us feel better, and he didn't tell us things in order to make our lives harder or boring. He actually told us things in order that we really might have life in all its fullness. When the storms aren't around, the sand actually looks like a pretty good location to build a house - why go to all the bother of building a firm foundation, the house on the sand looks just fine from the outside. The problem is only evident when the storms come (and they do come). If we build our lives on things of this earth, even though they may look good, and stable, they are only fleeting and we find that if we have built our house there, it will eventually fall into ruin - what happens if you lose that job? Or end that relationship?  Or I lose the ability to do certain things that I used to love? What then?

But there is good news. Jesus says that if we build our house (our lives) on the rock, then even when the storms come, we will not be shaken. But what is this rock? Well, the God that I know and believe in, claims to be that rock. He is the only one who is unchanging in this world of change, my rock, the only firm foundation. His attributes and character also never change: He is always love; He is always good, and we can always depend upon Him. God wants us to depend on Him in this way, not to kill our fun or make life hard, but actually to protect us, that we might still be able to stand even in a world full of uncertainty and change; He wants us to live lives that are solid, lives of integrity, lives that don't get blown this way and that with the changing seasons. But we don't do this because we've got everything all figured out - no, it's because we're depending on the rock, the reason we can stand firm.

The process of learning this lesson in practice is not proving to be an easy one, but in the long run our lives will be better for it if we do. In 2017, a year promising to be full of change, I want to choose not to live in fear any more, but I want to turn and find my security in God my rock. He will never let me down, and with my life built on Him, I will never be shaken.

This is a song that has been encouraging me a lot lately:

Jon Guerra - Wherever you are

Verse:

You can take the train or you can take the car,
You can travel the world but not too get too far.

You are always just where you are.

Why don’t you wanna be where you are?

I can see you’re sad, I can see you’re down

You think you’re lost and cannot be found

Love will find you just where you are

Why don’t you wanna be where you are?

Chorus:

Wherever you go, he is there

No matter the steep hill or stair

He doesn’t leave you alone with your prayers 

He is as close to you friend

As your own heart beat or breath

Believe you are loved

And that he is enough

For whatever you’re in

You know that he’s been

Wherever you are

Verse 2:

When you’re head is spinning and your life’s a race

When you try so hard but you get last place

Sometimes you are just where you are

Love doesn’t leave you where you are

Bridge:

There is no height, there is no distance

That can separate your heart from his

He knows exactly where you’ve been

And he loves you

Child he loves you

So come out, come out, come out wherever you are

 

Happy New Year (a new thing)

So, it's nearly 2014! Another new year! There are always mixed reactions to celebrating New Year, but I’ve really noticed it this year more than ever, due partly to having quite a few friends who have had a really tough time of it in 2013. I can see their view point…there is definitely a lot of expectation put on the one evening of New Year’s Eve, and if 2013 has been a tough year (which I know it has been for many of you) then why indeed would you want to celebrate its passing (at least, with anything more than sheer relief!) My natural optimistic instinct is to just want to give the people concerned a great big hug, tell them that somehow it’s going to be ok, and to want to make everything better for them – I don’t like knowing that people are hurting (it makes me hurt too!) But, it turns out that I can’t just magically make things better with optimism, no matter how hard I try to think of the right things to do or say.

The good news though, is that I can do something much better. Firstly, I can continue to pray for you. And secondly, I can share with you what I know of the hope that is based on solid promises, rather than optimism – and I happen to trust the one who has made those promises (although, I don’t trust Him nearly as much as I want to or know I should – but that’s a whole different blog post!)

Most of you will by now know that Steven Curtis Chapman is one of my favourite singer-songwriters (for various reasons, which I won’t go into here). He has written this song called Happy new Year, which is at the end of his latest Christmas album. It ends with hope for the year to come:
“The God who made everything, is remaking everything.
The God who made everything, He says I’m making all things new”.

This ties in amazingly with Bible Gateway’s verse of the day for today (which I get delivered to my inbox every day):
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43: 18-19.

Now this prophecy was written to a people who had really had a tough time of it. They, of all people, would have had a reason to “dwell in the past” and on the “former things”. Yet, they are given this promise to hold onto, to look and see that God is doing a new thing: He is making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland – i.e. bringing life to places that were formerly only places of death, where anything other than death seemed like an impossibility. Some of 2013 may have looked like a wilderness or a wasteland to you, and you aren't sure how things could ever get better. But, with God, nothing is impossible. I had no idea how I was going to find a job after completing my PhD at the end of last year (or what that job should even be), but God found me one. Then, I had no idea how to find somewhere to live in my new town, this place I didn't know at all - but God found me somewhere. I had no idea how to find a new church family to connect into - but God found me an amazing one(!) You get the picture. (There are still plenty more difficult situations that have yet to be resolved, but I know that my God will somehow make a way!) 

I also think of a passage in another Old Testament book of the Bible:
“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:19-23

God’s compassions are new not just every year, but every day (and actually, also every moment of every day!) The coming of a new year just gives us a good chance to stop and reflect. Yes it is a chance to remember with thanks the good things from 2013. But it is also a chance to remember that however hard 2013 has been, we don’t have to get stuck there and dwell in the things now from our past, but we can move on, with hope and expectation, into all that the future brings – that God is doing a new thing.

Up until fairly recently I found it really hard to think about the future. I suppose it was a result of the (mostly self-imposed) pressure of having to choose “the perfect” subjects for GCSE (then for A-level, then for university, then for a job…the list goes on; I don’t know if anyone else can relate to this?!) I used to look into the future and just get paralysed with fear, so it was easier not to look there at all, and just go with the flow of what was happening right now, but without any goals or direction (because that would involve thinking about the future!) But I have been, and am still being, more and more freed from this paralysing fear, such that I can now look at the future. I still don’t know what’s ahead, and it still scares me a bit, but whatever lies ahead, I know the One who walks beside me  (and I know that he has also placed some amazing people around me, for me to also walk with and encourage/ be encouraged by!) And I know that 2014 will be a good year. I was challenged a few weeks ago to think about what my expectations were for 2014. I didn’t have an answer at the time, but I think I do now (at least partly). What are your expectations for 2014?

So, Happy New Year, and every blessing for the year ahead :)