Not wanting to work for 'then' and the evils of 'now'

Sometimes when you start a project, have an idea for a ministry or a goal in mind we expect to see the results now. But the things that are worth working at in life don't appear overnight.

They require us to work at. They require us not to give up. They demand persistance.

Most of the time when we see someone who has achieved something that we admire all we see is the final result. A favourite band releasing an amazing album. A runner beating her marathon record. And for us that is all that exists. Someone achieving something that we wish we could have done or at least similar to what we wish we could do.

That is our truth.

But that is probably not the artist's truth.

Their truth is probably a lot of sleepless nights, pages and pages of words written but then thrown out, arguments with bandmates, voices telling them they are not good as so and so, hours staring at a blank slate, hours on facebook 'liking' other people's status's rather than going out in the rain to run, people not replying to emails or calls.


But they work at it and finally, finally it comes together. And the world sees the result and is amazed at the gift or talent of the artist.

But they haven't seen the tears and sweat.

And so we tell ourselves we couldn't do that.

But we can. We all can.

We just need to persist.

Don't give up. We deserve to see your work.

Because it can be that good.

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XXXchurch! Whaaa?

If you have had a conversation with me in the past five or six years you would probably have heard me go on and on about xxxchurch.

You'll most likely have either looked at me blankly or been pretty interested and maybe even tentatively googled 'xxxchurch' afraid of just what you might find.

But I started to realise that a lot of you probably see my status's on facebook or my tweets and really don't know what the heck I am talking about. So you might ask yourself questions like


What is 'xxxchurch'? Is it an actual church? Why do I write about porn so much? What am I having for lunch?


I automatically assume that everyone else knows what xxxchurch is just because I am so passionate about this ministry.



So to cut a long story short xxxchurch save lives. They save lives of people addicted to porn. And when I say people I don't just mean creepy men in their homes. I mean kids, teenagers, men, women (yep even women) and some grannies. Porn really doesn't care who you are.


But xxxchurch saves lives by encouraging people to be open about their struggles and by allowing Jesus love to go into that dark place where porn currently resides.


Led by Craig Gross and a great team of volunteers and supporters they go into porn shows and hand out Bibles, they go into strip clubs and love on the women who work there. They travel the US with Ron Jeremy (the Porn King) and debate him, but more importantly afterwards be his friend. They talk about stuff that the rest of us don't want to admit or even think about. And they do it in Church.


I struggled with porn. I was brought up in a Christian home and I became a Christian like most Christians in Northern Ireland, about three or four times growing up. But yet I still looked at porn.


But xxxchurch saved my life because I realised I could open up about it. So I did. To friends. People I trusted. And they helped me and they loved me and they gave me hope.

And that is what xxxchurch does. They offer hope to those addicted to porn and those who are trapped making porn.


Recently the opportunity has arisen for me to be involved in some exciting things with xxxchurch in the UK. I have been blogging for them for nearly a year but now xxxchurch is crossing the pond.


A few of us from here and England are helping to set this up. I'm excited about what this could mean. I'm excited that this will mean people won't have to be afraid to talk about porn anymore. I'm excited because I know there are people here (and I mean just as much Christians as well as others) who need to know Jesus love, instead of porn.


So this November we want to do what Jesus did and go and love the outcasts. We're going into the Erotica Adult show in London. We're going to love on the people who we meet. Some of you will be horrified that we would do that. Some of you will hate it.

But hey W.W.J.D.?

I'm running the Belfast marathon with some great friends in May to help raise money for this. Please think about helping us. Please think about serving God in a way that is maybe totally counterintuitive to you.

It's time to talk openly about the Elephant in the pew.

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