Have a good day, sir...

Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century revivalist, sat down at the age of 17 and penned 21 resolutions by which he would live his life. Throughout his lifetime he would add to this list until, by his death, he had 70 resolutions.

He put at the top of his list:
“Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

At the bottom he put:
“Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.”

Jonathan Edwards didn’t casually make resolutions with an expectation of breaking them. Each week he did a ‘self-check.’ He regularly summed up how he was doing and sought God’s help in the process.

Unfortunately, the trouble with many of us is when our resolutions collide with our old habits. However, Christ calls us to commit to actively work at becoming conformed to His image. Sadly, there is a lot of casualness about being a follower of Christ today so let’s resolve to become a people committed to a Godly transformation.

Let’s also not think of resolutions as just a New Year practice because each day is a new beginning. A mere date on the calendar is no more a divider of time than a particular grain of sand a separate part of the desert.

So today why not:
> Resolve to stop magnifying small problems.
> Make time to be kind and thoughtful.
> Give encouragement to someone. It might give someone a badly needed ‘faith-lift’.
> Think things through.
> Forgive an injustice.
> Free yourself from jealousy and malice
> Listen more.
> Apologise when you realise you’re wrong.
> Try to understand an opinion that’s different from your own.
> Examine the demands you make on others.
> Lighten up.
> Don’t take yourself too seriously.
> Be an optimist.
> When courage is needed, ask yourself: "If not me, who? If not now, when?"
> Walk tall and smile more.

> Finally, don’t be afraid to say, "I love you".

Inspired by J.John... www.philotrust.com

Number 27, Egg Fried Rice?

Let me tell you a story...

The story goes that (once upon a time) the ruler or India was so pleased
with one of his palace wise men, who had invented the game of chess,
that he offered this wise man a reward of his own choosing.

The wise man, who was also a wise mathematician, told his Master that he
would like just one grain of rice on the first square of the chess
board, double that number of grains of rice on the second square, and so
on: double the number of grains of rice on each of the next 62 squares
on the chess board.

This seemed to the ruler to be a modest request, so he called for his
servants to bring the rice. How surprised he was to find that the rice
quickly covered the chess board, then filled the palace!

Let's stop here, and see just how many grains of rice this is.

The number of grains of rice on the last square can be written as "2 to
the 64th power", This means:

2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times
2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times
2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times
2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times
2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times
2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times
2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times
2

...or "2 times itself 64 times".

Which can be written as approximately: 18,446,744,070,000,000,000 (ish)

At 10 grains of rice per square inch of rice fields, that would mean
that the entire surface of the earth would have to be covered with rice
fields two times over, oceans included.

The point is that the strategy of growing the Church one person at a
time is good - but if we could just harness the multiplication theory
and set up churches that would reproduce themselves we'd be onto a
pretty good thing! Just a thought....:o)

The Mission Field

One of the more prominent Churches in Colchester used to have a sticker
on the door, so as you were leaving the building, these words were
impressed on your mind:

"You are now entering the mission field"

I HATE cheesy stuff like that, BUT, it's true. And we have to ask
ourselves, how many people are we winning for the Kingdom? This isn't a
rant about numbers, because numbers are meaningless. One day we will be
called to account for what we DO and DON'T do...

Do you believe that?

Do you REALLY? Because if you do, then you need to ask yourself the
question, am I doing what I'm supposed to be, or am I just surviving.

I doubt many of us do enough. I am fortunate to be a part of several
ministries, although I could play a bigger part, but knowing people who
LIVE mission is amazing, inspiring and captivating.

EVERYONE can Evangelise - if you believe that you are God's creation -
YOU CAN EVANGELISE.

There are 4 kids that come to our Church almost every Sunday morning.
This Sunday I had to remove them as they were purposefully being
annoying. OK, so they're only after attention, and Jesus probably
wouldn't have kicked them out, he'd of done something wise and inspired.
However I removed them from the building and had a chat with them
outside. They have been BANNED from every church on the estate.

THIS ANNOYS ME.

I'm praying into this. Something has to be done.

I get fired up about this...watch this space.