Want To End a War?

A long time ago I wrote about some excting things that were coming up. Some of those didn't come to fruition but tomorrow the thing that I was probably most excited about is happening.

For years now there has been a war in Uganda where Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (nothing to with God!) has been kidnapping young children to fight for him. Kids who are just like you and me (well a few years ago now!). Kids who like to laugh and play and mess around with their friends just like kids anywhere. But they aren't getting the chance to be children because someone is taking it away from them.

Thankfully 3 film students from California decided that they could do something to help these kids. Thankfully through them over 50'000 young people throughout the world are also going to do something to help.

So this Saturday the 25th April, no matter where you are, get yourself along to the RESCUE

March with hundreds of other people in a united stance for the child soldiers and show the people doing their shopping that there is something wrong going on in the world right now. The great thing is WE CAN do something. We have a voice and we use it so much but we don't use it for other people enough. Tomorrow you can have a real chance to make a difference.

So for anyone reading this and if you are in Ireland tomorrow, get yourself to Dublin tomorrow. Just go. Don't question whether you can afford the time off, or whether you have a paper due in or whether you miss the next episode of American Idol, or whether you need to see the new Wolverine movie.

The abducted child soldiers don't get to way up those thoughts when they leave their homes.

Get down to St Patrick's cathedral at 3 pm and join up with others to walk through the city and show people what is going on in Uganda. This is going to be the most amazing thing you will be involved with.

Once chance to really change another human beings life

Don't miss it.

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Cause and Effect Part 1

I believe that everyone needs something to get their teeth into. I think there is more to our being alive than just the normal everyday stuff we go through. I think we all need something that inspires us to get up and help others. Something that we are specifically meant to be working at.

For me there have been several over the years. Ministries that I have been involved with, supported, been excited by. One of those is xxxchurch. This is the type of thing I want to be involved in. This is what I want to do. I want to help people by sharing my story and encouraging and not being afraid to go where others are. I want to go first.

I was talking to my Principal at Bible College last week about this ministry and about myself, about what I see my picture in the world looking like and I was really encouraged by his words. I am passionate about porn and I want the church in Ireland to start talking about it. He told me that I should pursue this. That he would encourage me with this. And coming from a guy who I look up to I can't tell you how much it meant to me to hear that.

I have struggled with it pretty badly in the past. I struggle with it still daily. But sometimes I feel I am the only one that struggles with these types of things.

Two options.

One. That is true.
Two. I am not the only one, it's just we don't want to talk about it. And who could blame us. It took me a long time to tell someone.

I think the second option is true.

I have been encouraged by others I have spoken to who also see porn as a problem in the Church and want to help.

I wrote in a post previously about how sometimes we struggle with the very things that we are called to. So for me I see my struggle with porn as a sure fire sign that I am called to help people who struggle with porn.

So this is where I am right now. This is what I am thinking.

I think we all have heard stories or met people and something in us just can't accept what is going on and wants to start moving. For me that is helping people who struggle with porn. For you it might be something else.

Check out Jordy's story. The video was shot 4 years ago when he struggled with porn daily and now he is working for xxxchurch.

That's awesome.

Simply he heard about a cause, was excited, was convicted and changed his life. Now the effect is clear to see.

Again.

Awesome.

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Aren't we all the same?!

For pretty much my whole life I have been learning from Sunday School and in Church and any where else where there are Christians that I am in need of being saved from my sins. Verses are quoted at me about how none of us are Ok and all of us need salvation.

So far so good.

The problem is that somewhere along the line I started to believe that some sins are worse than others. Where did I get this from? I know that we all need saved but somehow this has turned into "we all need saved (but really some of us need saved more)" And I think this is damgaing.

I have been pretty open on here about struggles I have with porn and with temptation but other than 3 or 4 people who I have been close to, I haven't really been open to many people about it.

Why is that?

Surely if we all need saved then that means no sin is worse than another. If some sins are worse then there would need to be different levels of salvation. But thank God we don't. And thank God there aren't.

But still some sins are seen as disgusting and dark and murky and should never be talked about. We think that our junk is bigger and smellier than the person sat next to us on Sunday morning. Or we think that if people really knew what we were like or what we got up to in out room last night, then they wouldn't be able to look us in the eye. But this is crap. Because like I have said we all need saved.

If only we really believed this. Sure, ask any Christian and they will agree with this statement. But do they really? Do I really? Because of this strange complex we have about not looking bad to others we don't mention our sins. And if we do, then it is that we aren't praying enough or we were kind of rude to someone or if you are a really hardcore sinner you dropped the 'f' bomb.

We are so taken in by the lie that now we are saved we need people to see us as perfect. Yeah we all need saved but where does it say anywhere that we need to have everything completely sorted. The Bible does say that we should be accountable to each other and pray for each other but how can we do that if we aren't completely honest.

Because people find it hard enough to admit small things to others, it leaves the bigger things (or should I say 'bigger' as how other people see them, but remember not 'bigger' as God sees them) then we don't mention the tough things we go through, or the struggles that are really grinding us down every day. Instead we keep them to ourselves and pretend that we are doing OK.

The point of this post is really that you and I will stop acting like your sin is bigger. If you are struggling with being nice to someone who you find annoying then this is just as big a sin as looking at naked women. If you are jealous of someone who is getting something you have always wanted yourself, this is just as big a sin as lusting after a girl/boy.

Jesus said that if we even imagine sleeping with someone elses wife this is just like actually doing it. There is no difference whatsoever. Thinking is as bad as doing? How does that work?
Because sin is sin. It's all the same.

So my challenge to myself is to stop stressing over looking good to others and be real and to be courageous and step up and not be afraid to talk about the darkest stuff. Because this will allow someone else to step up too, who has also been afraid.

If you are struggling with something that you have built up in your head as being this 'unforgivable sin' then please stop because it isn't.

I remember hearing or reading somewhere that we look at sin like we are at the base of some mountains. Some of them look bigger to us than others. We differentiate between them. But God looks at them from above, from far away. He can't tell what is big and what is small. He has a different view of them than us. To him they look all the same.

Let's start looking at sin like God does.

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Falling On Deaf Ears

So yesterday morning I woke to the joyful sound of ringing. Not a nice ringing. Not even a phone ringing (which would be awesome as I have Jamie Lidell as my ringtone) but the annoying ringing you get after a concert. Its called Titanus apparantely. I don't really care what its called, its annoying. But unfortunately I can't even look at it with fondness like I would if it was caused my an amazing concert. That was last week.

No this was caused simply by a blocked ear. Now I don't know about you but when I get this it changes the person I am. I am easily irritated and I am probably a bit more prone to losing my temper. I'm not really like that but when something like this happens to me I act like a spoiled kid.

And this got me thinking.
I can look at this as being the worst thing to ever happen to me like I did.

It wasn't.

Or I can look at it as something that is mildy inconvienient and that can be easily treated.

It is.

When I look at it like that then it changes my outlook. In fact after 24 hours of not being able to hear out of my left ear I am actually pretty used to it now.

And it may be a bit of a cliche but I am starting to appreciate my hearing. On my way home from Belfast yesterday I listened to music and for a brief few seconds my ear completely cleared up. Can I tell you that the music has never sounded so good. I have been listening to Sleeping at Last pretty much non stop the past week but it sounded so so better for a few short seconds.

I was reading a blog post on Shellie R Warrens facebook blog in which she was taken ill with the flu last week and how this as she saw it was God's way of "making her lay down." Psalm 23v2 ESV. God started to heal her about something specific going one in her life at that time. God had something to do with her illness. Reading about how she saw this period and how it was one way that God gets our attention by knocking us for six inspired me.

Sometimes we go through things that don't just cause us to stop and take stock but 'make us lie down'. So I started seeing my ear problem like this. I started to wonder what was the purpose of this and I believe it was to talk to me about sin. To see what is necessary and what is not. To see my sin and to see what I need to cut out. I like this. I am enjoying this. I think I am becoming more patient. I feel I'm thinking clearer about a certain issue in my life right now. My ear is blocked and even though I can do something about it, it won't heal straight away. I have no other choice but to wait and grin and bear it.

Maybe when we are sick or disappointed we should use it as a time to force us to stop and take time to hear (easier for some than others). There is nothing to do but be helpless and look to God and that is something I don't do nearly as much as I should. And remember that after God imposes on us something that stops us in our tracks to remember that there are good things about that time.

"He leads me beside still waters" -He gives us time to take stock and be peaceful. To stop thinking about the next project, the next meeting, the next problem. He gives us perspective.

"He restores my soul"- He take something that has been bothering you, something that has been tempting you or eating at you some disappointment and says it's OK. It's not who you are. It doesn't have to ruin or define you. It just gives you a new way of looking.

"You anoint my head with oil" - He gives you drops to put in your head to heal you, he brings you back to health after making you look to him with a new outlook.

The hard stuff is a "path to righteousness" that brings us to a new place. A better place where we are different people, more a real person than we were before. So if you are suffering right now remember there is a reason. There is a purpose. It's not needless. It's crucial. And with God we can be sure it will be good

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

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Invisible Children

My girlfriend Brittany has been passionate about Invisible Children for a while now and her love of this organisation is rubbing off on me now. If you don't know who they are, they are a charity who are working at freeing the thousands of child soldiers held by Joseph Kony and the LRA in Northern Uganda. In a nutshell.

When a war has been going on for as long as the one in Uganda it is easy to forget the people there or keep uptodate and it seems it fades into the background. When was the last time you heard about the war on the news. I think the same has happened here for a long time. But the truth is this is going on now in our world. There are children who are having their lives taken from them and it is our responsibility to help. Not to think that is awful, but to do something. It's pretty simple. This is the world that we have been given to look after and that means that part of what we as human being are required to do is to look after it and the people in it. This isn't about being a Christian. It's about something deeper. About being human.

I am really excited that Invisible CHildren are coming to Europe and I am even more excited that they are coming over to Northern Ireland. We will be holding a number of events and screenings of their new documentary during April including one at Queens and Belfast Bible College.

If you are reading this and want to get your church involved or your friends or your cat and dog then leave me a post.

Even better sign up now and get pumped and informed for the big event happening in Belfast on the 25th April. It is going to be pretty huge and it is going to be a chance to make a difference to someones life. Not to be missed. More soon

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