Video of the Day!

I want to write today about celebration! I am currently watching the Carling Cup Final between Birmingham City & Arsenal, where the winners shall celebrate a victory very joyously. Earlier, we went for a meal with some of my family for my Mum's birthday. Different types of celebrations but good fun all the same.

God has called us to celebrate (Phil 4:4) and as Christians we do have a lot to celebrate!

I was chilling out online this week and found a video of one of my favourite ever Cardiff City players, Robert Earnshaw. He definitely knew how to celebrate!

As Christians we know that:-

• We are saved (Romans 10:9)
• God Loves us so much (John 15:13, John 3:16)
• God works our good in all things (Romans 8:28)
• God has a great plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11)
• God will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5)

If that isn't worth celebrating, NOTHING IS!

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

 ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the LORD is God.
   It is he who made us, and we are his;
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Which house would you enter?

In Proverbs 9 there are two woman, Wisdom & Folly, and this is how they are described:-


 ¹ Wisdom has built her house; 
   she has set up its seven pillars. 
² She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; 
   she has also set her table. 
³ She has sent out her servants, and she calls 
   from the highest point of the city, 
 ⁴ “Let all who are simple come to my house!” 
To those who have no sense she says, 
 ⁵ “Come, eat my food 
   and drink the wine I have mixed. 
⁶ Leave your simple ways and you will live; 
   walk in the way of insight.”

 ¹³ Folly is an unruly woman;
   she is simple and knows nothing.
¹⁴ She sits at the door of her house,
   on a seat at the highest point of the city,
¹⁵ calling out to those who pass by,
   who go straight on their way,
 ¹⁶ “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
 ¹⁷ “Stolen water is sweet;
   food eaten in secret is delicious!”
¹⁸ But little do they know that the dead are there,
   that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.

When I read this passage the other day it really struck me as true. There is usually always two options in a situation, the option to follow God (wisdom) and the option to follow the world (folly). I love how folly says 'Stolen water is sweet, food eaten in secret is delicious'. That is clearly not true, but this world doesn't care. Satan also doesn't care, like the world and through the world he just wants you to go as far away from God as possible and join in their petty little rebellion.

Don't listen to a word of the lies...

I also love how the woman of wisdom cries 'Leave your simple ways and you will live'. 

Jesus said that He came to give us life to the full, the Bible makes it clear that following Him is the way to live and true life comes through Him. I know this to be true from my own experience.

So which house are we entering? Is it the foolish, pointless house of this world...or is it the house of life where Jesus has opened the door for all of us to enter?

Testimonies

I haven't been able to put a testimony on here on a friday for a while now so I am making an appeal for more!


I know it takes time, and I appreciate all effort taken, but I believe that every Christian has a story worth telling and that we will all benefit from hearing them.


Please Please Please send me some testimonies! Thank You :-D


Colossians 1:27


To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Happy Birthday Mum!

Today was my Mum's birthday, I won't say how old she is but if you look carefully at the above picture you might find out! (Sorry Mum!)

I just want to pay tribute to the No.1 woman in my life. I am genuinely so thankful that God gave me her as my mother. These are just some of the things I am thankful for:-

• Her patience. For years I was a bit of an idiot and she put up with me, loved me and let me make my own choices without pressure, even when she knew I probably wasn't doing the right thing. I needed that to be able to learn from my own mistakes and I hardly rebelled from my parents as a result, even when I rebelled against God.
• Her loveliness. She is typical for bringing surprises and selflessly giving to all four of her children.
• Her Godliness. Sometimes I forget how much she has experienced in her life and how much spiritual wisdom she has. When I speak about something God-related she is never fazed and always has something really inspiring & true to say.
• Her advice, as above. She always seems to know the right thing to do in a situation!
• Her sense of humour, with us lot as a family she needs it!
• Her friendliness, I find it hard to think of a nicer person.

Thank you Mum! Happy Birthday :D

Watch what you say

I was on twitter today and I saw the following tweet by what I assume is a celebrity on the main page of the site:-

'Don't say sorry for anything that made you smile' or something alone those lines!

I really dislike saying like this. I think it is completely out of touch with reality. Some may think I am being silly for blogging about what is, to some people, a throwaway comment but I believe that people truly take encouragement from such comments and go and do whatever you want and it doesn't matter who you hurt in the process.

Sayings like this have helped turn Britain into a temple of selfishness and despair.

Does it mean that Hitler shouldn't have said sorry for his crimes if it made him smile?
Is pedophilia right if it makes them smile?

Of course it isn't.

In today's world it is hard to define morality as there is so many different versions flying about, one opinion against another. My way of looking at it is that, as fellow humans, we cannot impose our opinions on each other because we are equal and does anyone know best?

So the way to define what is right goes back to the start, it goes to a higher power who does know better. It goes down to what God has said.

Jesus (who is God) summed up God's law in this:-

Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

His Plan

Having spoken to various good friends over various things the last few days the following thing has occured to me:-

Our best laid plans are often different to God's.

I think we all have an idea in our head of how we would like things to go. I often mistakenly take the idea in my head as perfection and what perfection would look like.

I suppose it is arrogance to assume that we know best and I'm guilty as charged.

I was thinking of what Joseph said to his brothers when God's Plan for Him came to fruition. Joseph had many hard times and confusing situations despite doing very little wrong.

Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

This world is a place full of evil, hate and selfishness. If you disagree with me just watch the News. Things will not always go as we have planned but God never loses control. As my pastor likes to say, 'The Trinity don't do emergency meetings'.

I truly believe in happy endings. It's only because I believe in a God who loves us and works the best for us in every situation, no matter how gloomy it looks. I believe in looking back at hard times smiling at how God helped us through it and worked in us through it. I believe living exciting, uncomfortable lives where our security is in God alone. I believe in Heaven and no matter how horrible life on earth is that we will have a perfect eternity with God if we trust in Jesus Christ.

Once my hope was in earthly things such as girls, football matches & money. The problem with those things are that girls can dump you, your football team can lose and money runs out.

My hope now is in the God who will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5), can never fail (1 Corinthians 13:8a, Romans 8:31), and whose love will never run out (Romans 8:38-39).

Praise the LORD!

Video of the Day!

The speaker at Church this morning made a great point today and I want to repeat it on the blog today.

We have high points in our lives and in our faiths. Today we looked at Abraham with him getting to meet God and for God to tell him about the great plan God had for his life. But Abraham fell after this high moment and went back to Bethel, the place where he had this great moment with God.

In football the moment when the team is argubly most weak is right after they have scored a goal (hence the video haha). It is the same for us with our faith. Right after great events that bring you so much closer to God such as Soul Survivor or Camp you can immediately have a bit of a downer. I've experienced it and know others who also have. Right after having God show Himself and overcoming the Baal-ites so amazingly on Mt Carmel, Elijah was scared away by Jezebel.

In these times it is great to look back on our 'Bethels', when God revealed Himself to us and the places where He did that....whether it is at a certain place, or a certain Bible verse or through a certain person or whatever.

1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Romans 8:28 Moments

This is a post close to my heart. I think I am stating the obvious when I state 'Not everything will work out as you want it to in life'.

Last night with PCY we had our 'Lock In', where we sleepover at a random Church, play games, learn from the Bible and maybe sleep if we're lucky, and not everything worked out as I had hoped.

I don't want to go into details but we had issues with some of the young people which have been dealt with.

This is my hope in that situation.

That this will be a Romans 8:28 Moment!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I can remember Romans 8:28 moments in my life, where things have not gone as planned and even gone horribly wrong leading to much distress. I can honestly say that these times as Christians turn out to be such a joy. Why? Because even though God doesn't plan for bad things to happen (He gives us free will and some use it to make bad things happen) He will make GOOD things come out of it.

I can remember a time in my life where I was really upset and I can say that God was so close to me at that time and helped me grow in my faith so much. I also met some lifelong friends who were going through the same thing. I honestly now am glad it happened. I see many times in my life where I was wrong and God was right and am I glad He made sure His Will was done and not mine!

My prayer is that we all make our bad moments into Romans 8:28 moments and let God work through it :-) Let Him bring us closer to Him and make us more like Him, filling us with His peace, joy and Holy Spirit. Nothing beats that ;-)

It's just a bit of hard work...or is it?

Today was one of those extra hard working days. I try and work hard normally but today I had to give that little bit more to get things done. Added onto a very busy schedule and I am pretty pooped tonight.

In life we are, quite rightly, told that success is usually the result of hard work. People such as Sir Alan Sugar have worked extremely long hours to get where they are today.

The greatest gift ever in my opinion is the gift of forgiveness, relationship & eternal life from God. Some people wrongly assume that we have to earn this gift through doing good things or great things.

I was reading Romans 3 this morning and it was great to be reminded that Jesus has already done all the work, and these great gifts are given to us freely by trusting in Him!

Romans 3:21-26
²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8-10

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Key Elements of Friendship #4

LOVE

Without this elements every other element I have written about are useless.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Just as we are called to love God more than anything else in our relationships with Him, we are called to love others as we love ourselves. I always take that to mean to love others as I myself would like to be loved or like to see others be treated by people.

I love the way 1 Corinthians 13 described Love because I find it exactly right and exactly how God is and exactly what we should aim to be in our friendships.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 ⁸ Love never fails.

I cannot stress highly enough how important it is to love others. I literally believe we can change the world, enrich people's lives and reveal Christ to many who previously have not known or not know fully of His Wonderful Love for us. That, in turn, changes their lives completely...just like mine was changed in the most amazing way just over five years ago. I'm up for this, Are you?

One more thing, Christ wants friendship with all of us. If we have it, let's make more of it...if you don't...the door is always open for you to let Him in. I keep saying this because I don't want anyone to miss out on the blessings in this life or in the next life...

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am not a part of the anti-Romeo group who hate Valentines Day. Often people who hate this day are people who are bitter over not being fussed over. Even though I haven't received a card or a present, I am not one of this group. I love LOVE and I rejoice that I have the Greatest Love in Jesus Christ.

John 15:13 - Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Whether you are lucky enough to get a card or not today, there is a beautiful gift for all of us from someone who loves us more than any other.

The greatest love ever shown was Jesus Christ, God Himself, on the cross paying the price for our sins so that we could go to Heaven to be with Him.

Ask Him into your life tonight and I guarantee the greatest Valentines Gift of all time, one that cannot be matched!

Hebrews 9:22 - In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Series on friendship concludes tomorrow!

A Line In A Song

Today at Church a line in one of the songs we sang spoke to me.

'I will worship you here'

I realised that not often enough in my life I am in a place of worship to God. Life sweeps me away from Him too often and then I find myself doing something I shouldn't.

One of the most powerful Bible verse in my mind is Acts 5:41:-

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

In Philippians 4:4 it says "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"

I want to always be able to say that I will worship God right where I am, everywhere I am.

Key Elements of Friendship #3

Creating great stories

Vince McMahon is the owner of the famous World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in America. He often appears on screen in the story lines on his TV programs. I don't know what he is like off screen but his on screen character is usually a villainous, self obsessed, deluded, power hungry & vain man. The reason I am talking about this character is that he once made a comment on TV that sums up the way some see life and live their lives as a result. The comment was:-

'Life sucks and then you die!'

Too many people live their lives accepting mediocrity, hoping something great will come to them...that some great storyline will write itself in their lives. This can be especially true in friendships, we do what we are expected too and don't go beyond that.

I have mentioned the book I read recently, 'A Million Miles In A Thousand Years' by Donald Miller, and it is all about creating great stories in our lives.

I believe to create great stories in friendships, we always have to go WAY BEYOND the call of duty. To where life is uncertain and uncomfortable but where I know, through my faith in Jesus Christ, that everything will go as He Wills. Go and visit your long distance friend, be there for people when they are down and do something crazy to cheer them up (not too crazy though! I don't want to be responsible for any injuries or deaths now!) Try to understand them even when you have no idea why they did that or didn't do that. Treat them to something unexpectedly without wanting anything in return. Go somewhere special, watch the sunset go, put the world to rights....in his book Miller mentions an ocassion when he just randomly decided to take some friends up this beautiful mountain on the way home from a trip, they were all epically tired but the sun was coming down and they ran through the fields laughing and it was something they will never forget.

Jesus lived the Greatest story ever and invited everyone to join Him. I am sure the Disciples had so many unforgettable moments with the Lord. He still invites us to join Him today. He has been the best friend ever to me and has blessed me with so many great memories. And if you don't ask....YOU DON'T GET!! :-)

Key Element of Friendship #2

Witnessing

When I say that a key element of a friendship is witnessing I imagine most people will think of being there for someone on their journey to knowing God. But I think the Bible calls us to more than that.

In Matthew 28 it doesn't ask us to convert all nations, it asks us to make disciples of all nations. I believe there is a huge difference between someone who says they are a Christian, they believe in God and somebody is a Follower of Jesus. To sum it up, some call themselves Christians and others are called Christians by others (the Disciples were named Christians by outsiders).

One of the biggest blessings I have had is people in my life who have been there for me in hard times, shared verses with me and asked after me. There have been people in my life who have seen me grown in faith and as a person. I have a close friend who has gone through a massive change in her life recently and it has been a joy to be in touch with her and see God at work in her life.

In the Bible Jesus did it with the disciples, Elijah with Elisha, Paul with countless Churches and so on.

I think we are called to do that with others, to see where they are in live, to encourage them, to watch them grow.

Key Friendship Element #1

Accountability

One of my biggest pet dislikes in this entire world is this. When you challenge someone about something you think they ought to be challenged about, in love, and they just respond by accusing you of judging them.

'You're judging me!' is the biggest cop out from facing reality and dealing with possible issues in your life I can see.

Some people do judge others and I am guilty of making assumptions myself but I think there is a difference between judging and calling people out in truth.

Say for example, I see a friend of mine who professes faith drunk in the street. I know that the Bible clearly states this is not right for a Christian to do and this is the difference between Judging and truth in what I could say to this hypothetical friend.

Judging : I don't think you love Jesus because I saw you drunk. You are such a hypocrite.

Truth: I saw you out drinking the other day, do you realise the Bible condemns that?

Sadly people take the 'Truth' as judgement as well.

One of the best things I have in my life is friends who will call me out whenever they feel I am doing something wrong. I can trust them to always help me keep on the right path with God. Because there are two paths in this life, God's Way )which I find always brings happiness) or our own selfish way (which I find leaves me feeling soul-less). This, I believe, is a key element of a true friendship. It can also work on other things too, such as relationship decisions and life decisions which people of any faith can say that it is good to have friends looking out for you.

So don't be ashamed to speak to people if you feel something is wrong. The Bible calls us to do it, Jesus did it with His Disciples and where would David have got without Nathan calling him out? At the very least, if they don't listen to you or accuse you of judging, you can be sure you are not to blame if it all goes wrong for them.

New Series!

On one of my recent blog posts a friend asked me if I would write about some of the things that should be in a Christian relationship including friendships, romance etc. The idea interested me and I have had some inspiration so I'm going to have a go at it. I think this is worthy of more than one post so I will post on the following things the next few days:-

• Accountability
• Witnessing
• Storywriting
• Love

Perhaps you will think of something I will miss out on. If you do please suggest it to me! I don't know it all haha. To add, I think these ideas could apply to relationships between people who are not of faith as well.

So the first post is coming right up!

Leaving it to God

Life is very busy these days. This is a list of the main things I am doing or involved in....Genesis Youth Group, University Accounting Course, Trainee Accountant job at a firm in Pontypridd, AC Ponty football team in United Churches League, Pontypridd Christian Youth, Pontypridd Christian Young Adults, Ebenezer Church, Coffee Shop Bible Study. Crazy eh?

Recently I have felt improvements in my performance in some of my activities. Particularly in my work related activities. I have felt lucky in some of the decisions I have made by I am feeling more and more that it is the blessing of God. It reminds me of Joseph and how God was in everything He did and blessed it.

Yesterday I chaired the evening service, which is basically being the Dermot O'Leary of the Church service and presenting everything!

I always get a little nervous beforehand but, in the prayer session beforehand with the elders and speaker, I felt God convicting of bad motives. I was nervous because I didn't want to look bad by getting stuff wrong, which is contrary to what the real aim should be...Glorifying God and doing His Will. I felt God telling me that if I let everything go to Him, I would lose the nervousness because it wouldn't be about me and would be all about Him. Funnily enough, the service went great :-)

Maybe it proves the verse in Proverbs 16:3 true....

Commit to the LORD whatever you do,
   and your plans will succeed.

Picture of the Day!

To keep in with the theme of my 5th Birthday here is a picture taken when I was just one week old! I'm the one caught blinking at the back. This picture has some of my closest friends in it such as Amy (red cap),  Matthew (white hat), Sarah (glasses and blue fleece) and Adrian (at the back with a black hat).
They are also some people I really miss such as Kristin (in between Amy & Matt) & Ifiok (far right with headphones).

Praise God for the time in between where He has kept me, encouraged me and Blessed me!!

My 5th Birthday!

Today is my 5th birthday. Confused?

I was born of the flesh 12 May 1988 which makes me 22 and whilst that is true and what you may be thinking here is why I am also 5.

Christians speak of being 'Born Again'. This isn't because we go back into the womb and come back out (yuk). It is because we believe that, when we give our lives to Jesus, God enters us through the Holy Spirit and we are therefore 'Born of the Spirit'.

I was Born Again on 5 February 2006 and I'd do it again and again if I had the chance. I can tell you it is an AMAZING experience (obviously, God entering you isn't exactly going to underwhelm is it?) and it has been a joy to hear others through my youthwork and my Church also testify to this having happened.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks to a Pharisee teacher Nicodemus about this:-

John 3:1-8

 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
 
If you want to be born again, just ask God to forgive you for your sins and enter your life tonight.
If you want to talk about things, you know how to find me :-)

Football Focus

Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I play for a football team in a local Churches league, we train on Thursdays and hope to play matches on Saturdays. I say hope because the Welsh weather hasn;t been too kind and our game last Saturday was our first since Novermber 13th. Even then, we shouldn't really have played as the ground was solid. Anyway, football has taught me a few things about faith and I am going to share them.

• When you lose concentration, you go off course

If I am driving a car and start looking to see if I know that person walking down the road, I will naturally steer towards in the direction of what I am looking at. This obviously isn't good! It is the same with football, when I'm daydreaming about things and not concentrating on the game I am not prepared for any situations I may face. Likewise, in our Christian lives when our thoughts are on other things than Christ we will steer in the directions of those things and not towards Him. If I am not focusing on Him, I will not be prepared for the situations and challenges I will face in life.

• Confidence is everything

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Mark 9:23

  “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

It is amazing how your performances in any of life's situations can differ with your belief, especially in football. In the professional game players can go from being worth millions of pounds to nothing, just by losing confidence and not playing as well. Even my performance can differ crazily from how confident I am in my abilities. Jesus said above that EVERYTHING is possible if we believe. No, 'I don't think I can do it', No 'I'm not good enough', No 'It's not my gifting'. YOU CAN DO IT. JESUS HAS PROMISED & GOD NEVER LIES!

Let's all have faith in Christ as we fix our eyes on Him. Especially me!

Liar Liar

Recently, after some persuasion by my brother, I have joined the Twitter fraternity. I actually joined the website some time ago but didn't get how it worked. Joel showed me over Christmas how he got all these updates from celebrities and Cardiff City players such as Jay Bothroyd and I was impressed!

Whilst online today (received two replies to questions from Bothroyd!) I noticed something in the 'trends' section. Twitter has a section devoted to the top things people are writing about which are known as 'trends'.

One of the top trends today was 'famouslies', these were some of those that people had wrote:-

• I'll love you forever
• "I have read and agree to the terms of use"
• "Can I have a piece of gum?" Sorry that was my last piece !
•  I didn't get your text.

It is so easy to lie, you can do it without even thinking about it. Even tonight, I was asked something and my answer wasn't true. It wasn't serious or deliberate or even necessary but I just didn't think. I hate it when it happens and I believe we have to be watchful of these things in our lives as all sin is serious.

^{1 Peter 2:1} 
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

In our world today lies aren't hated as much. 'White' lies are even considered good. For example, telling someone they look great when you don't think they do.

I know that whenever I lie, it hurts my soul. I feel bad and I don't want to live in guilt and I don't want to live in such a world. I want to live a life set free in reality.

John 8:32
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Truth always gets found out. If you tell someone they look great and they don't. They might know your just humouring them and won't believe you in the future. Or someone else will could tell them and they'll still get really upset. My experience is that lying never pays.

My advice is to be totally honest, when faced with the question 'How do I look?'. This could be a genuinely truthful response, 'I don't think that outfit suits you, but you still look beautiful'. Honesty and truthfulness, think about it...it makes sense.

Job 12:13
“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.

God is all wise & all knowing, and is only interested in what is best for us, His creation. God says don't lie, I'm going to trust Him!

Colossians 3:9
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,

A Special Time

This week is a special time in my life. On Sunday I took some of the young people to a marvellous event called Ignite. It's in Cardiff every so often and about 500 young Christians meet and worship together and hear a message.

On 5 February five years ago I committed my life to Christ at a Ignite event. It was really special to be there on sunday night and remember the amazing things God has done for me since I made that brave decision. It was also incredible to see two of the guys we brought go up and make commitments at the end and I treasure all of these things in my heart.

It is very brave to stand up and walk to the front in front of five hundred contemporaries to make such a big commitment. It's even harder to then live out this decision in front of your friends & family.

If this is something you struggle with then do something about it, don't just lull around because you will never make a decision either way. I think there are people reading this that want to make the same choice I did but feel restricted by what people might think or by the size of the decision it is. Please speak to me and please pray to God who can do so much more than what we ask for. He is always there for us and is always a great help.

Also, He knows our hearts already!

Psalm 139:1-4 (read the whole Psalm this morning, love it so much!)

You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways. 
 Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely

If it's any help, it is the greatest decision I ever made (my story is here) and the moment I achieved the real goal in a human being's life. To meet their maker.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
I am on facebook (Michael Woodington), Twitter (mjw6150) or formspring (www.formspring.me/mjw6150) if you want to speak to me, formspring is anonymous as well ;)