Bad Weather

Hey guys! Hope you all had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! For the first blog of 2013 I decided I'd hopefully make it a bit more relevant to some of your lives and allow you to identify with it. Hopefully! So here goes.

There's a little wall art board in my house that says "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain." Obviously it's not telling me to literally go out and dance every time the heavens open and the rains pelting off the ground. But what exactly is this saying? Basically, it means no matter what life throws at you, make the best out of it. Get up and work through it. Enjoy yourself through everything.

There's plenty of times in life you'll just want to curl up in a ball and not wake up until something's passed. Whether it be exams, sickness, addictions, depression, anything; for most of us we'll experience that feeling at some point. At these times though what should we do? Do we just lose the will to live and not do anything? Lose faith in God? Or take it out on those closest to us? Maybe we do all of these things and more. Even in these tough times though, God is always there - Hebrews 13:5, "... I will never leave thee nor forsake thee". And that's a promise.

So that's what God tells us about the storm but what are we meant to do? Just sit and let the storm rage around us? No. If you haven't already worked it out, I love Matt Redman and Casting Crowns. If you've never heard of them, run and YouTube them right now. Well, both of them have written songs telling us exactly what to do when life's tough:
"Every blessing you pour out,
I'll turn back to praise!
And when the darkness closes in Lord
Still I way say...

Blessed be the Name of the Lord,
Blessed be Your Name!"

That's Matt Redman's take on it. No matter if the blessings are flying in from God (which they always are even if we don't notice it), or if the darkness is rising around us and life's just too hard, still sing and shout "Blessed be Your Name." We are told in the book of Pslams that "This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." If that doesn't comfort you in life, nothing will. God made today, tomorrow, and every other day. That means he is in control. He won't throw anything at you that you can't handle. So rejoice, be glad and praise Him!

Casting Crowns wrote "Praise You In This Storm":

"And I'll praise You in this storm,
And I will lift my hands,
For You are who You are,
No matter where I am.
And every tear I've cried,
You hold in Your hand,
You never left my side,
And tho' my heart is torn..
I will praise You in this storm."

That's the way that we should live. Understand that God knows all the pain your going through plus many times more. After all He did die on the cross for you. He understands exactly how we feel, so He knows what we can deal with. Praise Him in the storm and no matter what happens, you'll come out the other end a stronger, better person for it with a stronger faith in God.

Let's remember, as Christians not to put our head in the sand when life gets tough. No matter how hard it gets, let's stand up, be counted and praise God and bless His Name. When the storm comes, don't wait for it to pass; get up and dance in the mercy and love of God. And if you aren't a Christian, turn to God and you'll realise the strength and help that He can give you when you're not on top of the world. Praise Him In The Storm!

Reason for the Season

Yeah, it's that time of the year again. It'll soon be Christmas Day when we all run downstairs at ridiculous times of the morning, open our presents, spend time with our families and best of all, stuff our faces full of food! Sound like a fairly typical Christmas? Well there's something pretty BIG missing.

What's the actual reason for Christmas? Can it really be all about the presents? Or the food? Or seeing the family? Quite simply the answer is NO. All these things are great but there is a more important 'reason for the season'.

The real reason for Christmas is that a baby was born in a stable in Bethlehem around 2000 years ago. Sound like nothing overly important? Sure there's a baby born every minute? What if I told you this baby was more important than Cristiano Ronaldo? More important than One Direction? (Yes, Directioners there is something more important than them five lads) More important than Simon Cowell, Sir Alex Ferguson or Nelson Mandela? This baby was even more important than David Cameron and The Queen put together! This baby was the Son of God; Jesus, Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Mighty God - Isaiah 9:6, Matthew 1:23.

Not only was the Son of God born at Christmas time, but see those presents you're getting this year? That new Xbox, the latest iPhone, make up perfume etc. Guess what? They're found in the Christmas story too. Obviously there were no phones or Xbox's 2000 years ago; but three wise men came to visit Jesus, bringing precious presents for Him. With them, they brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh - Matthew 2:11. These gifts were brought to show how special Jesus was; back in the day these gifts would have been top of the market.

So hopefully you now know how important baby Jesus was. But why was He born? Well, right through the Old Testament we are told that Jesus would be born in the City of David (Bethlehem). We are also told that Jesus would be a descendant of King David, you know the kid who killed the giant with the stone and grew up to be one of the greatest kings ever? Well both of these things were fulfilled in Matthew 1:1-16. So Jesus was born to prove the Bible right, or to fulfill prophecy.

That's not the main reason Jesus was born though. The reason for His birth is best summed up in the words of the Christmas Carol below:
"Mild He lays His glory by,
 Born that man no more may die!
 Born to raise the sons of earth!
 Born to give them second birth!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs2SWgrWlMc

There it is in four lines. Jesus was born to give everyone on earth new life. He was born that we could have eternal life. He left heaven to come to earth. He was born in a stable with farm anaimals. He was hated by many throughout His life. He was falsely accused. He was beaten. He was spat on. He was nailed to a cross. And after hours of suffering, He died for YOU. If that's not real love then what is?

So this Christmas, don't just get caught up in the festivities and excitement. Of course enjoy the holidays, but at the same time, remember the real reason for the season.

Check the Label

So I've submitted to being a "blogger". This is what you can all label me as now; "the guy who blogs". But while thinking about this new label, I also got thinking about labels that you and I give to others without really knowing them. Whether its the colour of their skin, the clothes they were, the people they hang about with or the way they talk, we are all guilty of judging people based on appearances. Really though, we're all human; we're all unique, we're all made in the image of God - "So God created man in His own image..." Genesis 1:27 - and that's what makes us all so special. At the end of the day, God doesn't look at the colour of our skin, the clothes we wear, or anything else; he looks much deeper. In the words of Matt Redman; "You search much deeper within/Through the way things appear/You're looking into my heart..." God doesn't care if you look amazing on the outside and wear the latest fashion of clothes or have the newest phone of the market, he cares about what's in your heart - "For man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart" - 1 Samuel 16:7. God doesn't see us as materially rich or poor; in his eyes, we are spiritually rich or poor. Whatever our reputation in this world, it counts for nothing before God because WE ARE ALL SINNERS. Yes, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" - Romans 3:23. He sees us all as guilty, hell deserving sinners, until we are made right with Him. He is the only one who is, and who ever will be, worthy to judge us. And when God judges us, he judges us severely - "Anyone whose name was not found in the book [of life] was cast into the lake of fire." - Revelation 20:15. So next time we go to judge someone, or label them with certain qualities or vices, think about this: Am I worthy to judge that person? And how is God judging me? Sinner saved by grace? Or just sinner?

PS: This is the first blog so hopefully they'll get better as I get used to writing them!