A place of simple rest and dependence. Psalm 116

 I had the privilege of sharing deeply real, open fellowship with 3 friends in the new community this week. Each seemed disconnected; we spoke 1:1, but the conclusion was the same each time. Our confidence is in God, and in this we are full of joy and settled. The first was grieving the loss of a loved one after a tragedy. The second was grieving the loneliness of grief after losing a family member. The third was grieving age and the care of someone who will not recover; this side of being with Christ. 

Psalm 116:7

Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

The theme of the psalmist appears to be (v1) whether the LORD has heard us, but the greater reality is us hearing the reality of his presence and salvation. 

Each of us who grieves is lonely, goes through dark seasons, feels our isolation and depth of struggle as we process. The question remains: do you see, hear and know my experience, LORD? We need human company; regardless of all we have in the LORD, it is a human condition to want company. It is not good for us to be alone. The best of new communities understands this. We don't treat the grieving as a project or process; we are brothers and sisters who cry together. (Romans 12:15) However, it is ultimately God alone who can restore us to rest. We can share with others, and they understand somewhat. We can receive love from others, and they can, to an extent, show love. The understanding of God and the love he shows us, the listening comprehension he displays, is on a different level. The cross of Christ, the salvation of God, encompasses all our brokenness, overwhelmedness, trauma, grief, suffering, social distancing, incomprehension of brokenness, fallenness, and decay. Our God is good and never anything else. All of our experiences, however bad, are resolved ultimately in his redemption. He chose to take such on himself, alone. This is love. We didn't love him, or listen to him. He loved us first, and listened to our cry on the cross as he cried out in our place. This is love, not that we had an ear to him, but that his heart, plan, and invitation were unreservedly open to us. 

All thanks be to God. Rest in him whatever restlessness you are challenged with. Trust in his eternal, faithful, unchanging character, plan and listening ear, however long your season of illness, care, loss, or darkness. He is the bright morning sun that will never cease to shine (Rev 22:5). His death and resurrection assure us that his heart is with us, his way is for us. One day we will sing the same song of Joy in the presence of all his people (18) and comprehend how big and how open his heart and ear have always been and will always be. 

Thank you for praying for Nepal.

 Just a few days before, we were walking along the road in Nepal, staring at the black clouds descending on the mountains. It is a unique thing to see massive mountains 360 degrees from a valley. I was reminded of the verse in Isaiah 54:10

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, 

yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed,” 

says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

My simple instinctive thought was ... how Big GOD is. How can people not see his might, power and existence when they look at such a geological masterpiece... even in its fallen state. It is a unique thing of awe to see massive mountains 360° from a valley. 

As was typical of every day during our stay, the sun blazed in the morning, but was followed by a monsoon refreshing for the afternoon/ evening. Proper big drops of rain that give you a refreshing shower on the first gigantic drop and full-on body-wash in the next 10 seconds. Not like the wimpy polite stuff we get in the UK. None of us foresaw what would happen next. Soon after getting back home to the UK, we got the news...

Since then, the team have been working on relief aid. The initial 48 hours were the continued list of new community friends and leaders missing. Was it the lack of internet and communications that made contact impossible? Sadly, the reality is more devastating. So many have lost their lives. Buildings can be rebuilt, belongings can be replaced, but the reality of lost human life means our reuniting will be in the eternal rest and presence of God, not in Nepal. Pray for those who strive to minister to the broken-hearted and grieving as they themselves grieve those for whom they had worked and seen new communities sprout up over the last few years. I personally am so grateful for such a team and leader in Nepal who have a longstanding connection, know the situation and people, and know what is needed. 

The work will continue to demand much from us for a long time to come. Today, pray for access to situations. Wisdom,  understanding, and direction from God on where and how help is most helpful. Some places are accessible, others not yet. 

Thank you so much to friends who have prayed, supported and been so generous. If others want to help in some way or give, please DM,  and we'll do all we can together for His glory.

Please mark any gifts for ACTION UK with "CODE 215 Nepal" 

As a faithful friend reminded me, "nothing happens outside of His sovereign control". At this juncture, we don't understand His purposes, but we do trust His ultimate good. 

Photos from today. 

Today we thank God for Mo.

Many will have heard that our very precious sister Mo Edmonds went to be in the immediate presence of The Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we thank God for Mo and her impact on so many as a channel of His grace.  Whether on a mission team in Ukraine or Africa, a friend in the powerhouse that was the ladies' fellowship, or simply a friend who was helped, you will feel the deep loss.

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, 

as good stewards of God’s varied grace"

The Lord transformed and used Mo as a fruitful manifold channel of his manifold grace. Fruitful Christians are channels of grace; this is what it is about. Good sheep who know "The Shepherd" love people, whatever their situation. Mo was unassuming, so approachable, and genuine. She so easily became a deeply appreciated, loved and close friend. For my family and me, she was a great gift of encouragement in a tough season. She encouraged us to serve; she loved both the wider family of God and us with genuine compassion from God. Never underestimate the eternal value of such. 

In Mo's case, the impact was both local and international, missional and pastoral. There are those in Ukraine (South and North, young and old) and Africa, residential care, down the shops, in the day centre, and many other places who have been changed by Mo's friendship, fellowship and walk with Jesus. True Christian service doesn't look for a title, but looks for hurting sheep and commits to them, praying for their dependence on Christ. True Christian service does not look for an excuse ("I am more than 70 and a bit", "I have had cancer", "I have health issues"), but looks to God, who can do immeasurably more than we can think or imagine. Mo did everything without pretence.  What God calls us to, He equips us for. 

Please do pray for Den and the family, Laura, Sally and Blaze. As they remember God's goodness through Mo, may they also know the help of His presence in both profound loss and comfort. To be with Him is far better. God is good all the time, and so we look to Him as we thank Him for His goodness. 

Pray also for church communities who witness and love in the name of Christ without their buildings.

 Today, a Baptist church in Zaporizhzhia was intentionally destroyed. Pray for the family who grieve the tragic loss a loved one, and for the church community as they continue to share the message of hope in Christ. Since '22 this fellowship and building have been used by God in humanitarian aid, a hub to help many to safety, having already lost so much. 

Having no respect for God and human life goes together. 

1 Peter 1:25. When destruction is the modus operandi of the "presidentially powerful", it is important we meditate on the ultimate governing eternal, unchanging reality...that some things will never be destroyed.

Pray for friends in Odesa and Kyiv after overnight attacks.

 Article here: 

Time well spent. Living in the goodness of God.

  In a world so full of disappointment, broken promises, instability, "wars and rumours of wars", time spent in the Holy presence of God is the answer and corrective we are in need of. His presence is not only the place of certain joy, clarified purpose, peace and focus, but it is the place we are made to live in, the essence of life itself. 

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; 

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

 Psalm 16:11 

All political leaders disappoint. We live in a season when this is exceptionally true on the largest stage. We watch the news, hoping for an upturn in hope, a new figure or policy to inject some sustained stability, only to find that each hope raised is soon punctured into deflation, further mess, broken promises and a trajectory of despair. In a world so full of chaos, it is too easy for our minds, hearts, and conversations to be taken up with earthbound things. (Col 3;2) 

There is one who never disappoints. 

Psalm 96:9 reminds us to "worship the Lord in the splendour of His Holiness". Our focus is important. The same directional instruction is given in the tone of The Lord Jesus at his meal, when he says, "do this in remembrance of me". We can focus on so many immediate things: our own sin and failure, our broken world,  the failures of world leaders who have so much power but so little compassion, the persecution towards the faithful church, the lack of resources for those who have so much gospel opportunity to the unreached...yet our constant focus and return is to be fixed on Him. He is the eternal constant. All the other observances fit in under our gaze of our God, who has never made a mistake. All world events and even those intended as "private" or "hidden" should be seen in the context of the God whose way and gaze is only Holy, whose Saviour has paid for complete redemption, through complete obedience and spotless fulfilment. 

His Holiness Addresses Our Dispondency ...Because He Does What He Says. 

Easter puts everything into perspective, especially relationally.

 I feel like any of my stumbling expressions are entirely inadequate for all the ramifications of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is Holy ground. For the follower of Jesus, this is the zenith.  Easter addresses all our cosmos, all our past, all our discouragements, fears, traumas, grief and manifold emotions of a broken world. 

On Good Friday and throughout the Easter weekend, it was so good to be with our home fellowship and so many trusted church family in loving and relational celebration.  I was profoundly struck in a fresh way by the relational events surrounding the cross and the public interactional dimensions of it. I wondered if sometimes we miss something of this,  as careful as we are as thought-out, doctrinally protective Evangelicals, we are quick to jump to our theological framework, we have our own well-trod liturgy, songs, path and routine. Our minds have open gates to a neurological palace of many details, well-sequenced paths harmonised by gospel accounts. The older our walk with God, the more to recall and process, but there is something greater than handled detail or recalled knowledge,  an instinct of greater weight and shock significance... HE LOVES US. 

Here, at the foot of the cross, and staring into an empty tomb,  there is nothing of the ordinary or usual and everything of the extraordinary. The greatest of it all we glean is His love for you and me. Such is the extravagance, compassion, magnitude and depth of it, we will never have a "handle" on it.  Nothing should hit us harder or rock us back on our heels more to assess our lives, identity and very existence with urgency than the fact that He comes and dies, perseveres, communicates, obeys, persistently pours himself out and completes the work... in love for us.