A Waste Of Life

The sad news of the passing of Amy Winehouse yesterday was greeted with the usual comments when this happens to gifted celebrities - what a waste.

Sometimes I think that it is easy for people to think if you are not big and famous then you must have no gifts at all and if you did the things Winehouse did you would not be wasting anything.

I disagree, I believe God made us all with a specific personality and a specific purpose in mind that only WE can achieve. This makes us all unique. Any life that ends like Winehouses' did is a waste.

YOU ARE SPECIAL. YOU HAVE A PURPOSE. YOU ARE LOVED & CHERISHED BY GOD.

Romans 12:1-8


¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship.
    ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is— his good, pleasing and perfect will.
    ³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
    ⁴ Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,
    ⁵ so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
    ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
    ⁷ If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
    ⁸ if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

A Big Price!

Today is a very crazy day in European football. Transfer Deadline Day! The final day in which major football clubs can sign players this season. You can have really boring Deadline Days where nothing happens. But occasionally you get a real gem of a day where clubs keep you guessing right up until the final hour.

Today is one of those days. The main players are Liverpool's Fernando Torres, one of my favourite players (left), and Newcastle United's Andrew Carroll (right). At the time of writing they appear to be leaving for Chelsea & Liverpool (Carroll to replace Torres!) for £50,000,000 and £35,000,000 respectively.

I have read much concern over the amount of money being spent by football clubs. One work colleague suggested that those kind of sums could help feed some of Africa and that is certainly something to think about when we see such frivolity in our world on seemingly needless expenditure.

Many others have suggested that these players are not good enough to warrant those sums being spent on them, and this is what I am going to make a point about in this post.

In Football you are worth what somebody is willing to spend on you. Carroll could be one of the top strikers in the world in the next ten years and every penny spent would be worth it. Torres is one of the best strikers in the world already and if his goals fire Chelsea into the Champions League next season and to victory in it this year, he will have paid back the price already (especially as prize money is equally as exorbitant in football!).

Let's turn this around, if we are worth how much someone is willing to spend on us then how much are we worth?

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God considers us so valuable to Him that He was prepared to sacrifice 'his one and ONLY Son' to ensure we have the chance to have our sins forgiven and thus go to Heaven to be with Him.

The price paid for us was God Himself. This is how Jesus is described by the prophet Isaiah:-

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
   will accomplish this.

I have been down on myself a lot recently but knowing God's Great Love for me has helped me through it. If you are feeling down about yourself don't forget HOW VALUABLE YOU ARE TO HIM.

Thank you Jesus!

A Blessing

Some bad feelings resurfaced within me today but God is Good and this is how He Blessed me through it:-

Firstly my wonderful and beautiful friend Kathryn sent me an amazing blessing through e-mail, reminding me that unless I love myself, how can I love others as I love myself? It also reminded me of how Jesus is not about condemining us or waiting for us to mess up so He can cry 'Sinner!'. Actually Jesus takes great joy in everything we do for Him, no matter how small, and that we want to be in relationship with Him.

John 3:17 ^- For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Then my daily devotional book reminded me that God can use our suffering to remove the things in us that are not of God. I have a lot of things in me that are not of God so it was a great encouragement to think that there was a purpose in my sufferings. It also called me to not try and get rid of my suffering or battle it but to graciously accept it and see what God does!

I would say lastly but God never stops working, In prayer God reminded me of who I am. I am so hard on myself and don't see a lot about myself that is loveable so for God to tell me that I was His Servant, His Boy was very precious to me.

I hope everyone reading knows how precious they are to God and how God finds lots to love about them that they cannot see.

God Bless you all