Drowning

I'm writing this the morning after giving a talk to my churches youth group. I had 10 minutes whereI choose to dive into Matthew 13:44 (The parable of the hidden treasure) and explore the idea that our lives, our actions should be built upon the Gospel. It was a talk written to root home 20 odd kids from a mix of backgrounds to put Jesus at the centre of what they do. (I'll upload it as a transcript at a later date)

I spent time diving into the passage and thinking about how I could relate it back to them in preparation.

I came up with stories, illustrations to help them understand what I was getting at and how it should impact there lives.

After all that time and effort, I hoped that I would be able to do a good job.

I didn't... I stunk!

As I reflect, I'm starting to feel like I'm in the losers cafe in the apprentice! Picking it apart it became clear where I went messed up. I went on for too long, had too many ideas mixing in together. The journey wasn't clear and I lost some of the youth along my way. I did a rubbish job.

Maybe I'm a bit harsh on myself but as I begin to critique myself I can't help but feel that God could never use me in this way again. That I'd blown it!

I'm sure we all think like this from time to time. How could God use me when I've failed?

But we forget. The Bible is a book full of failures and God still uses them!

In Matthew 14:22-33, Matthew tells an account of the disciples out to sea, when they see Jesus walking on water. Not knowing that it was him at first Peter cries out “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” (verse 28) and of course Jesus replies "Come". When Peter steps out of the boat, he takes a couple of steps and then seeing the storm and the rain starts to sink.

What Jesus does next is amazing! Peter failed. He lost faith in Jesus and put his faith onto him. He was drowning. He was about to die! Jesus could have left him there and let him drown.

But he doesn't. Jesus stretches his hand and pulls him back up. Peter didn't deserve another chance yet Jesus saves him, challenges him and gets him back in the boat. Jesus wasn't done with using Peter because he stuffed up!

In whatever we do to live for Jesus, we are free to fail. Jesus won't let us drown. We will learn and be brought back to the boat to step out again.

I may not have done a good job out of my talk, however I was faithful. I stepped out of the boat and Jesus didn't let me drown! Jesus isn't done with me yet. He can still use me in whatever way he wants.

Food for Thought

About a year ago, I was up in London with my team from work. We were originally there for an evening meal, as part of our prize for winning the EMEA Marketing Team of the year award from one of our vendors. Whilst we were there, we decided to book a meeting room and have a team meeting in preparation for the upcoming year.

Come lunch time, our director decided that she would treat us for lunch. We ended up stumbling across this Sushi bar in the centre of London. Quite a trendy restaurant on the 38th floor, looking out across the whole of the city! Not knowing what to order, we asked the waiter to recommend some stuff for us.

3 hours later and after consuming several different items from the main menu and some really tasty puddings, we had our fill and went to settle the bill. Given the fact that we had a table booked at a classy restaurant for our prize- which we had a budget of $1000 (approximately £700) between the 7 of us- we weren't expecting to have a big meal for lunch... However when the bill came we were at a bit of a shock... £700!!! Thankfully, the bill ended up being classified as our directors expenses!

A couple of hours later - spent feeling pretty full! - we dragged ourselves to the table we had originally booked. A complete contrast to the Sushi bar, this restaurant was pretty posh! Imagine the sort of restaurant where diplomats would wine and dine and resolve political differences. The sort of place where deals would be made on who would get what oil.

After another couple of hours and being able to squeeze some exquisite food - into our rather full stomachs- the bill came. Once again we as a team had spent over £700. Making it the second meal which cost £100 per head!

On our way back to the station we all couldn't help but reflect on the days menu and putting the experience of it all into perspective. My share of both bills would have easily paid for 6 weeks of our weekly food shop.

In the midst of it all, one of my colleagues said something deeply profound:

"I don't think I can eat again. Everything else I'll eat, will be dull after today"

In John 4, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well. As part of their conversation Jesus says the following;

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.[b] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

In the bible, the concept of being thirsty is a metaphor of being alienated from God. The truth is that at heart we are all thirsty. Like the Samaritan women, we long to have a thirst quenched. We can either have our thirsts satisfied once and for all or we can fulfill that hole by good things that we turn into idols.

Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman about calling her husband, he's not revealing his omniscience, he's revealing to her that shes not satisfied and actually she's filling it with a lesser desire than what he can offer.

What are we seeking to satisfying the hole within our lives? Is it relationships? Pleasure? What Jesus has to offer, what the gospel gives us is so much better than anything this world has to offer! Are we placing as high a value in it as we should?

That was about a year ago and I've been hungry since and I've forgotten the taste of what I've eaten. Other things of lesser value have replaced it. Let us not lose the taste of the gospel and the delight it is.