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So I read a blog called Stuff Christians Like, which is basically a humourous look at the funny things we do as Christians. (And I thoroughly recommend it!). It’s kind of about the stuff that get’s between us and God is you want to Jesus Juke it!

I found myself doing something the other day that sounds like an SCL post, so I thought I may as well share it!

At housegroup, normally within the study there’s a few bible passages to look up right? Well, when I was in Sunday school and at Girls’ Brigade, I was pretty good at sword drill (click the link, it’s not as violent as it sounds!), I could find a passage (especially in the New Testament) pretty quickly!

So bringing it back to the housegroup evening, if you hear “shall we look at John 3v16?” You think “easy – only one verse and I know I can read it without fumbling!” But, if they ask for a whole chapter which you just *know* is going to be full of long and complicated words, I don’t know about you, but after initially going into auto-pilot and finding it at speed, I’ll find myself slowing down, flicking intentionally past it, maybe pretending I can’t find it, (all the time with a finger in the right page), so I look like I’m trying hard but just can’t find it! Just waiting for someone to get there before me so they can face all those words.

Then as soon as they’ve declared they’ve found the passage then, oh look, I’m there ready to follow it 🙂

Does anyone else do this? Or was this just a confession I shouldn’t have made?!

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” – Psalm 139v14

This verse is a pretty well known one, but one that if I truly think about, is pretty tricky.

If I look at myself as far as science goes, I am wonderfully made! Thumbs, the way the body just get’s what it needs from foods, respiration, all these things are truly incredible!

But as far as aesthetics go, my critique would generally be ‘could do better’. Saying I’m wonderful is going to be a very difficult lesson to learn!

Do you agree that you’re wonderful?

In prayers last week at work, someone in my group prayed this “You see through low self esteem to who we are”

This struck a massive chord. I’ve always seen my low self esteem as who I am, not something that hides who I am, I’ve always seen it as part of me.

Definitely something to think about!

Well, when I say modern I mean 5-10 years ago!

Early Christians used the sign of a fish, called a Icthys (ΙΧΘΥΣ) as a secret sign to each other back in the day, and while in this country we don’t need to keep our faith secret for safety, it turns out we do still have other ways to secretly say “I’m a Christian”.

At the age of 16 I started at a huge 6th Form College which had about 2000 pupils, and most of my friends from school had gone elsewhere. I intended to find the CU as soon as I could to get to know that community and have that sort of supportive base, but before that started, we had some lessons.

In my first or second Maths class, I thought I overheard the guy next to me talk about church or something, so to double check, I pulled out my version of the ichthys. On my wrist I had a wristband that said F.R.O.G. – nicely subtle to most of the world, but anyone who’d been a teenager in a church surely knew I’d actually got this in a Christian bookshop and it stood for “Fully Relying On God” (sometimes I think I should still be wearing it for that reminder!).

So I pulled the sleeve of my jumper up a little and rested my arm on the desk – hey presto, my first Christian friend at college! The modern fish worked! …Pretty sure this wasn’t their original purpose, but it was pretty handy!

Today in prayers, the focus was on Psalm 23, and how when we re-read parts of the Bible, we can get completely new things from them, and how the Psalm talks about a journey, and how the Lord walks alongside us.

“Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.” – v4

The ‘new’ bit that struck me today was the line “You walk at my side.”
We were asked to fill in the blank for the line: “Even when __________, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side.”
My first thought was “Even when I’m exhausted and worn down.”
It made me think again of the Footprints Poem. How God walks alongside us, but today I was struck at how that includes keeping our pace. If we’re exhausted and plodding slowly, God doesn’t rush on ahead, He stays alongside us. If we’re bubbling up and rushing on, He keeps up!

He walks at our side. 🙂