Do I Really Want To Be A Christian?

Whenever I say the words, "I'm a Christian," in my mind, I can't help silently adding "... Get me out of here!"

 

I blame ITV and the popular programme "I'm a Celebrity".

 

I am a Christian (Get me out of here!), but I don't know that I like the label 'Christian'.  Not because I want to hide what I believe or disguise it somehow, but because over time the word has become corrupted.

 

I think the meaning of 'Christian' is stuck in the 70s: long, untamed hair; rainbow guitar straps; rainbow/tie-dyed t-shirts; the iconic socks-and-sandals combo; people who are overly polite and yet hypocritical; incredibly judgmental and narrow-minded; and yet something of a pushover at the same time.

 

Think the ever-chipper, "Hi-diddly-doodly neighbours!" Ned Flanders in The Simpsons.

 

 

Someone detached from reality and a laughing-stock to most who know him.

 

And I find myself asking Do I really want to be a Christian?

 

If that is what being a Christian looks like, I'm out.

 

And what's more, this image of Christianity - of being a Christian - bears no resemblance whatsoever to Christ - the reason for our faith.

 

I love Jesus because He wasn't a Christian and He wasn't anything like the stereotype we have come to associate with the word "Christian" either.

 

He wasn't polite: He cared more about sharing life-giving truth with people than upsetting their feelings.  He wasn't hypocritical: He literally practised what He preached and loved people as He taught us to.  He wasn't judgmental and narrow-minded: in fact, He was accused of being too liberal by the religious leaders of His time.  He ate with prostitutes and let them wash His feet; He invited a scheming, friendless tax-collector for tea; He crossed social and religious and geographical boundaries when He chatted to a promiscuous, unmarried woman from Samaria.  He healed people who were sick or dying, regardless of whether it was the day of rest.

 

He valued people. 

 

Above all else, He loved and valued and cared for the people He came into contact with. 

 

He wasn't confined by rules or guidelines or rituals.  He was governed and motivated by love.

 

He wasn't controlled by religion.  He was moved by relationship.

 

That's what I want my life to look like, too.  Not the bad-hair, 70's style, stereotypical "Christian", but a life modelled on Christ.  A life which, like His, is motivated by relationship and governed by love.

 

"This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him.  This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.  My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other.  No one has seen God, ever.  But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!"

 

[1 John 4:8-12 MSG] 

 

 

Digital Photos and Forgiveness

I was discussing the way digital cameras and digital photos have altered our photographing experience with a friend earlier.  Not only have they altered the way we view photography, they also affect the way we see ourselves.

 

Gone are the days when we had to develop a whole roll of film just to see how many photos were actually 'usable'.  We had to sift through the blurred images, those with a thumb distorting most of the picture, the photos where the subject is off to the side or at an odd angle.  And the red eyes.

 

These days, we can instantly check our photos and see whether or not they 'measure up'.  If we're not completely satisfied and we don't feel that we look good enough, we can improve them and edit them and digitally manipulate them until we are happy.  And, if the worst comes to the worst, we can hit 'delete' and we can get rid of them. 

 

If there's anything we're not completely happy with, we can simply get rid of it.

 

I sometimes wish it was that easy in life, too.

 

But unfortunately we have to deal with the difficult and messy things in our lives along with the beautiful and air-brushed parts too - we can't simply delete the bits we don't like.

 

We can't.  But God can.

 

The Bible says that,

"He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.  For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.  He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west."

 

[Psalm 103:10-12 NLT]

 

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

 

We can't 'delete' and remove the things that we don't like from our own lives, but when God looks at our lives, He doesn't keep a record of our wrongs - He doesn't keep all of the 'bad photos'. 

 

Instead, He looks on us with immeasurable and unfailing love and compassion. 

 

Daily Bread

This evening, I'm catching up on Nigel Slater's 'Dish of the Day' programme from Friday.  His aim is to show us how to avoid wasting food, by planning out how to make the most of the weekly shop.

 

It is a well-known fact that most of us waste food by over-buying: we succumb to the 'buy one get one free' offers, or reduced goods and end up with more than we use.

 

This is something which I know I have been guilty of in the past and it can be a real struggle to plan out my cooking to ensure I don't waste food or money.  It's a struggle to make sure I have just enough food for each week and no more, which will go off and be wasted.

 

In the Bible, when the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt and wandering around in the desert, God provided just enough food for them every day.  Every morning in the camp, God sent 'manna' to cover the ground, which was like honey-flavoured wafers.

 

Moses told them to only collect enough for themselves for one day (apart from the day before the Sabbath when they collected twice as much).

 

"So Moses told them, 'It’s the bread God has given you to eat.  And these are God's instructions: "Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person; gather enough for everyone in your tent."' 

The People of Israel went to work and started gathering, some more, some less, but when they measured out what they had gathered, those who gathered more had no extra and those who gathered less weren’t short—each person had gathered as much as was needed.  

 

Moses said to them, 'Don’t leave any of it until morning.'  But they didn’t listen to Moses. A few of the men kept back some of it until morning. It got wormy and smelled bad. And Moses lost his temper with them."

[Exodus 16:15-20 MSG] 

 

I don't know how I would have felt being instructed to only collect enough food for each day, rather than being able to hoard enough for the week.  Whilst I waste some of my food if I over-buy, I prefer that scenario to not having enough.

 

It must have encouraged the Israelites to trust God more, as they were literally relying on Him for their daily bread.  Even if they tried to save it for the next day, it went mouldy.

 

They had to live each day in faith, believing and trusting that God would provide for them.

 

Jesus taught His followers to ask God and trust them for their "daily bread".  But how often do we pray this without really considering what it means?  I want to develop that reliance on God which, each day, trusts Him afresh to provide enough for me.

 

I want to learn to live by faith in God, rather than by my own self-sufficiency.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best of Both Worlds

I make the best brownies in the world.

 

Seriously.

 

I think brownies are probably my favourite thing to bake (and then eat).  They are a delicious and satisfying sweet treat, somewhere between cake and fudge.  Too squidgy and moist and dense to actually be cake, and yet too crumbly and flaky for chocolate fudge.

 

They are the perfect combination of both.  They are in a category of their own and I can't quite get my head around it.

 

In the same way, I can't get my head around the fact that Jesus was both a man and God.  And not just half man and half God, like a centaur or a mermaid - an odd combination of both things.  The Bible says that Jesus was fully God and fully human.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it [...] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

 

[John 1:1-5, 14 NIV]

 

The "Word" John writes about is Jesus.  He was with God in the beginning and is equal to Creator God.  But Jesus became a flesh-and-blood human in order to live with us and lead us back to God.

 

In The Message translation this passage reads,

 

       "The Word became flesh and blood,
       and moved into the neighbourhood."

 

       [John 1:14 MSG]

 

God became human through Jesus and 'moved into the neighbourhood'. 

 

Like brownies, Jesus is the perfect combination.  Cake and fudge.  Man and God. 

 

The best of both worlds.

 

 

Beyond Your Wildest Dreams

I would say that I have a pretty wild and vivid imagination. I write stories and have little difficulty creating and imagining a wide range of different situations and scenarios. I find it easy and enjoyable to conjure up new characters.

I find it easy to dream big when it comes to writing.

However, the Bible says that there is one whose imagination far surpasses mine.

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!"

[Ephesians 3:20 MSG]

And in the NIV version, this verse tells us that God can do "immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine." His ideas and plans are so far beyond our own that we cannot even comprehend them.

In Isaiah, God declares,

“'My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. 'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"

[Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT]

Even when I stretch my imagination as far as possible, even when I dream the biggest dreams I can think of, God's ideas still outstrip mine.

By miles.

Stripping Off

I'm travelling today and have had to pack very lightly as I'm going to be trekking across London with my luggage.

I've posted before about how I'm not very good/awful at packing light and only taking the bare minimum, but knowing that I'd have to carry it all this weekend has made me re-evaluate what I've packed.

I have got rid of everything that might hinder me and weigh me down.

The writer of Hebrews encouraged his readers to do the same in a spiritual sense, too.

"Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."

[Hebrews 12:1 NLT]

Whilst I have no intention of running anywhere today (unless I am close to missing my trains), I want to run the race that God has set out before me.

And I want to be able to run without feeling hindered or held back or restricted in any way.

I need to adopt the same approach to my spiritual 'luggage' as I have taken with my literal luggage today. I need to get rid of the things which I don't need in my life, but which I seem to lug around with me.

I need to strip them away.

A True Reflection

I've had a sticky smudge across my bedroom mirror for a few weeks now and, in my laziness, I have just ignored it.

 

I kept forgetting it as it's only obvious when I'm sitting on my bed - I haven't really noticed it when I'm standing up at the mirror.

 

However, when I was sitting down, I couldn't really see myself properly.  I could still make myself out, but my image was blurred.  It wasn't a true reflection.

 

In the same way, my view of myself in a spiritual or emotional way is often blurred by 'smudges'.  Smudges caused by circumstances, or failures, or flaws, or doubts, or what others think of me, or even what I think others think of me.

 

They distort my image of myself.

 

And they are not a true reflection of how God sees me.

 

And sometimes they distort my image of God and His goodness and His faithfulness too.

 

Two nights ago as I sat on my bed I noticed the smudge on my mirror again, and something shifted this time; something roused me from my lazy apathy.  I got the polish and duster and vigorously cleaned the whole mirror.

 

Until I could see myself clearly.

 

In the same way, sometimes I need to give my spiritual 'mirror' a good clean to get rid of the dirt and grime that stops me from seeing myself the way that God does.

 

The Bible is clear about how precious and loved we are in God's sight, in spite of our faults and failings.  Paul writes,

"God chose you to be the holy people he loves."

[Colossians 3:12 NLT]

 

And Zephaniah describes God's love and delight in us -

 

          "He will take delight in you with gladness.
          With his love, he will calm all your fears.
          He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."

 

          [Zephaniah 3:17 NLT]

 

 

This is how I want to see myself.  This is what I want to see and know and believe when I look in the mirror.  I want to see myself the way God does.  But sometimes, in order to do that, we need to take a good long look at the mirror and give it a good clean first.

 

 

 

The Antidote to Fear

I rewatched 'Donnie Darko' today. 

 

I've only seen it once before and it was a long time ago, so I didn't remember much.  It is intricate and intriguing - if not rather odd - and is all about a boy who hallucinates and feels it is his responsibility to save the world.

 

One thing that really stood out for me whilst I was watching was a scene where one of Donnie's teachers draws a continuum across the blackboard (it's set in the 80s), with 'FEAR' on one side and 'LOVE' on the other.

 

Each pupil has to read out a scenario that they have been given and mark a cross on the line to show whether the action on their card is motivated by fear or love.

 

Everything we do, she says, is motivated by one or other of these emotions.

 

It got me thinking about how love and fear are opposites.  And it also made me consider what motivates me the most.

 

I know that a lot of the time, I am motivated by fear: fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of not being good enough, fear of being too much to handle, fear of missing out, fear of being 'found out'.

 

I am not motivated by love.

 

I haven't counted, but apparently the command "Do not fear" is repeated 366 times in the Bible.

 

That's a lot.

 

I think God wants something to sink in.

 

What's more, John writes,

"There is no fear in love."

 [1 John 4:18 NIV]

 

Fear and love are, as the teacher in 'Donnie Darko' pointed out so astutely, opposites.  They are mutually exclusive.  You cannot have both together.  

 

Fear is crippling and it stems from a feeling of being unaccepted or unloved.  Love is the antidote to fear.  Not love as a fluffy fuzzy feeling, but passionate, powerful proactive love, which lays itself down for us. 

 

The same verse in The Message reads,

"There is no room in love for fear.  Well-formed love banishes fear.  Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love."

 

I don't want a crippling, fearful life.  I want a life that is "fully formed in love".

 

 

 

 

God and Tattoos

I found myself discussing tattoos today with Year 9.

 

They were describing and drawing what they were hoping to have done when they were old enough to commit their ideas to permanent ink. 

 

One girl told me that her Dad had her name tattooed across his wrist.  Whilst the thought of needles being anywhere near my wrists make me feel more than a little faint, I think the idea of his tattoo being a sign of his love and commitment is lovely. 

 

How reassuring to know that your name is written in permanent ink on your father's hands.

 

The Bible tells us that this is true for us: our names are written on the hands of our Heavenly Father:

 

 

         "I’d never forget you—never.
         Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands."

 

         [Isaiah 49:16 MSG]

 

 

The Amplified Bible goes even further to say,

 

"Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands."

 

[Isaiah 49:16 AMP]

 

Indelibly imprinted.  Permanent.  Not just our names, but our images.

 

God knows us individually and personally.  He knows our names.  And He is committed to us. 

 

In the same way that my Year 9's Dad has got her name tattooed on his wrist, as a sign that he is committed to her and will never forget her, so does our heavenly Father have our names tattooed on His hands, as a sign that He is committed to us and will never forget us.

 

Permanently.  Indelibly.  Irrevocably.

 

 

Childlike Faith

I have spent the evening with the beautiful baby daughter of two of my close friends.

 

Whenever I spend time with my friends' babies, I am reminded of how completely dependent on their parents babies are.  And of how utterly helpless they are by themselves.

 

Babies rely on their parents for food, for milk, for winding them, for changing their nappies, for attention.  They rely on them for everything.  

 

And there is a simple trust between babies and their parents.

 

Babies know that when they cry, someone - usually Mum or Dad - will attend to their needs.  Someone will come to help them and rescue them and give them whatever they need.

 

In the same way, the Bible tells us that God will always answer our cries for help and will attend to our needs; He is our Heavenly Father:

 

        "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
        he heard my cry for mercy."

 

        [Psalm 116:1 NIV]

 

However, although I know this verse and others which talk about God's provision and His parental care for us, I am aware that I often don't believe this is what He is like.

 

I don't have that simple childlike, or babylike faith which believes that Daddy God will provide all that I need.  There is something in my heart which doubts His goodness, which doubts His kindness and His ability to provide.  Perhaps this is the result of disappointed hopes and dashed dreams in the past - things which have stripped away that childlike simplicity.

 

But I want to return to that childlike faith. 

 

“I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom."

 

[Matthew 18:3-4 MSG] 

 

I want to have a simple and elemental faith again.  I want to be childlike again.

 

The Strangeness of Silence

I don't like silence. 

No, that's not quite true - I like (and sometimes demand) silence when I'm talking - especially to a class.  But I don't like to be in silence.  I don't like to be surrounded by it.

If I'm at home, I'll often have the TV on in the background, even if I'm not really watching it.  Or I'll put some music or the radio on, just so that I'm not in silence.

I had the very odd experience of being in a room of 300 people yesterday which was silenced by someone.  It felt unnatural and uncomfortable. 

We don't like to be silenced.

I think our modern understanding of silence has negative connotations of punishment or poverty: punishment for bad or antisocial behaviour - we make people work in silence and take away their right to speak; or poverty if people can't afford, or don't have, TVs or MP3 players to fill their silences.

We don't see silence as a privilege.

We don't see it as a privilege and most of us are scared of what we might find in the silence.

If we strip away the competing voices and distractions, if we silence the noises which surrounds us, we are left with ourselves.  With our own hearts and our own thoughts and our own voices. 

And sometimes we don't want to hear those things.

Sometimes we'd rather hide in the noise than deal with the deep longings and desires and dissatisfactions we find in our own hearts.

But the Bible tells us that sometimes we need silence.

       "This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

       'In repentance and rest is your salvation,
       in quietness and trust is your strength.'"

       [Isaiah 30:15 NIV, emphasis mine]


        "I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.
        Like a baby content in its mother’s arms,
        my soul is a baby content.

           Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope.
        Hope now; hope always!"

 

        [Psalm 131:2-3 MSG]

Sometimes we need to mute the world, in order for us to hear the true longings of our hearts and to listen for God's voice.   

And it is in the silence that we will hear the still, small voice of God.

Mist

I'm up even earlier today than I usually would be during the week.

I am on a very early train.

I can't see much past the windows on the train because it's so foggy outside. I can see maybe ten feet away from the carriage on either side before the world disappears into swirling white mist.

Waiting at the station, it was cold and damp and misty and I couldn't see very far ahead of me. In fact, I could hear the train a long time before it became visible through the fog.

Sometimes in life, we can't see more than a few feet in front of us either. We can see our own feet, but the rest of the road dissolves into the mist. We don't know where we're going or what the future might hold.

If, like me, you like to be organised and know the 'big picture', this lack of direction and vision is frustrating and limiting and restricting.

But it also makes me more dependent on God.

The Bible describes how God's word reveals our path to us -

"By your words, I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path."

[Psalm 119:103 MSG]

We may not be able to see the road ahead of us, but as we take small steps of faith and grow closer to God through His word, we find that the road will appear at our feet.

MOT

I've been thinking about my car's MOT today and about how important it is for our vehicles to have regular 'check-ups', to make sure that they are safe and reliable and roadworthy.

 

In the same way, it's important for us to give ourselves regular 'MOT's too. 

 

We need time and space to examine our hearts and our minds and to see what state they are really in.

 

So often, we rush through life meeting deadlines and completing projects and we don't give ourselves any time at all to stop and reflect on what's going on in our lives.

 

We need to take time to reflect on what has happened in our lives and what we've learnt and how we've changed and grown.  We need time to consider how our skills and gifts have grown and to question how we've been using and developing them.  We need time to reflect on what God has been showing us and how He has been shaping us.  We need time to look into our hearts and see what's there.  And sometimes, we need time to attend to what we find there.

 

The Bible tells us to

      

        "Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
        that’s where life starts."

 

        [Proverbs 4:23 MSG]

 

Our hearts are the driving forces behind our lives: they reveal our deepest desires and direct our actions.

 

If the heart is where life starts, we need to be aware of what's going on there.  We need to be aware of jealousy or bitterness or resentment.  We need to be aware of disappointments and desires and dreams.

 

We need to make sure that we give ourselves time to reflect on the state of our hearts and to act on what we find.

 

We need a regular, honest, purposeful MOT.

 

 

 

Special Privileges

My car failed and then passed its MOT today.

 

Thankfully, it didn't need much doing in order to ensure it passed round two - I just had to replace two of the tyres.  And luckily for me, Dad was around to help co-ordinate the replacing of the tyres whilst I was at work. 

 

When I picked my car up this afternoon, Dad had already paid on my behalf (for me to pay him back later), and he gave me a 'bill' which comprised of three parts:

 

- MOT (with Local Resident Discount)

- Tyres (with no discount)

- Door Trim (with Daughter Discount)

 

I had forgotten that about a year ago, the door trim on my passenger door had been lost to the elements after a particularly windy drive.  I hadn't really been able to afford to replace it - especially as it wasn't essential to the safe running of my car.

 

However, Dad had remembered and had asked the garage to replace it for me.  And, what's more, he paid for it and 'treated' me to it. 

 

He paid.  I got it for free.

 

I got a 'Daughter Discount'. 

 

In the Bible, God says that we get special privileges as His children, too.

"You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, 'Papa!  Father!'  Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child?  And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance."

 

[Galatians 4:6-7 MSG]

 

Complete access to the inheritance.

 

Complete access to God, our Father.  Complete access to the glorious future He has planned for us.  Complete access to forgiveness and redemption and restoration.  Complete access to grace and mercy and healing.

 

As God's children, we each get special privileges.

 

He paid.  We get them for free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grass is Always Greener

I'm sure we're all familiar with the saying - "The grass is always greener on the other side."

 

And it is always tempting to look at other people and to want what they have.  I am not very good at looking at what I have or who I am and feeling content or satisfied.

 

Instead, I find myself looking at those around me and wishing I was more like them.  Wishing I had their skills or abilities or talents.  Wishing I had as much money as them, or as much confidence as them, or as many lovely clothes as them.  Wishing I was more like them in some way.

 

The grass is always greener on the other side.

 

But today, I read somewhere, "The grass is always greener where you water it."

 

Where you water it.

 

The grass is greener where I choose to invest my time and my energy and my efforts.  Rather than looking at others and wasting my time longing for what they have, I need to invest time in myself and in my talents and skills.  I need to water my own 'grass', rather than looking enviously at someone else's garden.

 

The Bible tells us to embrace who we are, rather than looking enviously at others -

"So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvellously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t."

 

[Romans 12:6 MSG]

 

I love this verse and often return to it - there is so much to chew over.  But I wish it was as easy to make it a reality in my heart as it is to read it.  I wish that by just reading it, I found the confidence to go ahead and be what I was made to be and that I would stop comparing myself either enviously or pridefully with others.

 

Unfortunately, it's not that easy. 

 

But perhaps it starts with realising that the grass will always be greener where I choose to water it.

 

 

 

 

 

Oil

I dye my hair a lot.

 

I get bored of having the same colour after too long and enjoy a change.  However, whilst I enjoy changing my hair colour regularly, I know that it's not good for the condition of my hair.  I often have dry, split ends and am often in need of a deep conditioning mask.

 

One of the best things for over-dyed hair is olive oil.  A good few spoonfuls warmed up and rubbed into the ends of my hair and left for a few hours, or even overnight.

 

When it's washed out, it leaves my hair feeling really soft and silky.  The split ends are flattened down and sealed - if only for a short while - and my hair feels smooth again.

 

In Psalm 23, David likens us to sheep and describes God as our shepherd.  One of the things that shepherds would do for their sheep was to rub oil into the wool on their heads.  Oil helped to ease out any thorns or brambles that were caught in the wool and caused pain.  It also helped to soothe any wounds, and it cleaned any dirt from the sheep's wool.

 

       "You anoint my head with oil;
       my cup overflows."

 

       [Psalm 23:5 NIV]

 

Whilst God doesn't literally anoint our heads with oil, He anoints our hearts and our lives with His love.

 

He eases 'thorns' and 'brambles' out of our hearts - those things that are causing us pain.  He heals our wounds so that they don't fester and become infected.  And He cleans us up and gives us a fresh start.

 

But in order for us to do all of these things, we need to do two things.  Firstly, we have to come to Him.  And secondly, we have to stay still whilst He works on our hearts.  Sometimes it feels as though it would be much more comfortable to live with the thorns in our hearts and the wounds that have been inflicted, rather than going through the process of letting God ease them out and heal them.

 

But if we will stay still and let our Shepherd God work on our hearts, we will find ourselves healed from  our deep wounds.  We will find the painful thorns we have carried around with us eased out.  And we will find we are cleaned up and given a fresh, new start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preview

I've been thinking about trailers this evening.  Not the sort that you attach to your car, but the sort which advertise a film or a TV programme.

 

They give us a quick and intriguing insight into what's coming up next, or try to persuade us to go and watch a film.

 

Sometimes I wish I had a trailer for my life: I'd love to know how the storyline pans out and what's going to happen.  Or even a short weekly trailer: a quick snippet of what to expect in the next week.  The highlights and the low points, the things to look out for and the things that will be stressful.  I wouldn't have to worry about things, I could be prepared for everything.  Nothing would catch me out.

 

But my life wouldn't be very exciting - I wouldn't really be living.  It'd be like simply reading through a script which I hadn't written, but couldn't control.  It would be boring, at best, and deeply dissatisfying at worst.

 

I don't know how my life will unfold and what will happen, but I do know and trust that God has got good plans for me.

 

This is one of my favourite verses in the whole Bible and it reminds me to trust in God when I feel that I don't really have a clue what is happening in my life:

 

         "The Lord will guide you always;
         he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
         and will strengthen your frame.
         You will be like a well-watered garden,
         like a spring whose waters never fail."

 

[Isaiah 58:11 NIV]

 

I want to be guided by God.  I want a life that is satisfied, even in difficult circumstances. I want a strong frame.  I want to be 'well-watered'; I want to be a spring that never runs dry.

 

Like a trailer for a film or the next episode of a TV programme, this verse doesn't give away the whole plot.  It doesn't give us all of the details, but it gives enough detail to make me want to read on.

 

And it's not just a preview for my life.  It's a preview for all of us.  If we want it.