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Inspired by a true story.

John sat in a park one day and watched a man training his dog.

The man would throw a stick and the dog would go fetch it and bring it back. As John watched he saw that the dog did not immediately run after the stick but instead waited for the master to say “go” at which he would almost fly after it

“Oh Lord” said John “I wish I had obedience like that”

Then the guy threw the stick and turned to the dog, who was eager to go, and said.. “stay!”. The dog was straining every sinew and muscle in his body to go get that stick but he stayed by his master waiting for what seemed an eternity.

“Oh Lord” said John “to have THAT sort of obedience”

The dog waited and and waited eagerly awaiting the “g” of “go” but until it came he would not move. Then the master finally said “come on boy, lets go home” and walked away from the stick. The dog, without a second glance at the stick, turned and trotted alongside his master, eyes fixed on him, it was as if the dog had completely forgotten the stick even existed.

“Learning anything?” came a voice in John’s heart.

Reflection

The trick in obedience is not just running for the stick but to listen for the command. If the command is “go” we go with all our might but if it is “stay” we must stay with all our might, regardless of the fact that we may “know” what needs to be done.

But when it comes time to leave the stick where the Master has thrown it we must turn, our eyes fixed upon Him, forget the stick and follow our Master.

This is what I term as “letting it go” or “laying it down”

It is the premise of surrendering our will to His, if we truly lay something down it is no longer upon our heart. He may restore it but He may not.

Like Abraham we must walk the road with our eyes lifted to the mountain not gazing upon our potential loss and we must not assume that in laying it down we will have it restored – however we must not assume that we will not have it restored either. To do either would be to fix our eyes upon the stick and not the Master.

Abraham is still known as the “friend of God”. A lyric of one of the songs we sing goes “I’d lay it all down again to hear You say that I’m a friend”. Would we lay it ALL down again? Would any of us lay down our own personal stick.

It may just be that God has something better planned for us that does not include that stick. It may that God has something better planned for us that does include it.

In either case the key is His plan, not the stick. His way is perfect, the goal of the prize of the upward call must be strived for but strived for in Christ Jesus. It is not just the call which is in Christ but the “pressing on” must also be in Him.

Our hope is eternal for Jesus has laid Himself down that we may be restored to life. Just as Abraham received Isaac back “from the dead” because of the Lords provision of the sacrifice, so Our Father in heaven will receive us back from the dead through the sacrifice of Jesus.

In remembering all this we should not forget the words of Jesus “If you love me then you will obey my commands” If we wish to be obedient to the Masters commands then just like the dog we must keep our attention on the Master and on Him alone. Oh and if you’re worried about how we can care for those around us with our eyes only on Jesus then take comfort from the fact that Jesus himself has his eyes fixed only on the Father and he managed to care for others pretty well.

Pilate asked them, “What should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Matt. 27:22

Pontius Pilate said it first but it applies to each of us today

Pilate washed his hands of Jesus (Matt 27:24). Have you done the same?
Have you decided that you don’t need Him and dismissed your one true hope?
Have you called Him Christ and then put Him aside to continue your life the way you wanted?

Maybe you’re “not ready” to answer this question.
That’s okay the question will stay right there until it is answered.
But when would you rather answer it… now when it applies to the future or at the end when it applies to the past?

This may not apply to you because you love Him dearly.
He said “If you love me then obey me” – so do you really love Him?
Can you apply Galatians 2:20 to your life and not fall short of it?
(By the way don’t think because I am writing this that I escape it – I fall as short as anyone does!)

What shall I do with Jesus?

Examine your life now.
One day we shall all stand alone before the throne of Almighty God and how we answered this question daily will be remembered.
What will happen then?
Will it be said that we responded with joy and thankfulness when He sent some dear soul to tell us about Him ?
Will we be able to freely and humbly admit that we served Him with all we have?
Will it be shown that as He was not ashamed to wear our sins as wounds we were not ashamed to wear Him on our sleeves?
Will it be noted that we turned our lives around and gave up everything to seek only to serve and love Him each day?
Or will it be said that we scoffed and ridiculed His servant when all they were doing was showing His love for us?
Will we hang our heads as we admit that we were too embarassed to admit we loved Him?
Will it be shown that we were too ashamed of the gospel to ignore the ridicule and risk of rejection and witness to others about that love.
Will it be noted that we worshipped and prayed on Sundays but filled our lives with things we knew would distract our lives from serving Him.

What shall I do with Jesus?

If you have not made Him your personal Lord & Saviour ask yourself this..

How many chances do you think you will get?
If you died tonight where would you go?
Don’t care?…well you should. Why does an embryo grow limbs if there is no life after the womb?
You can’t think or theorise your way out of hell – it’s real and in hell there is no second chance.

What shall I do with Jesus?

If He is your saviour then ask yourself this…
If He took you home now, how would your service of Jesus read? “Full of action through faith” or “Full of intention and waste”?
Have you today done all that you can for Him?
Sounds harsh? Well how harsh will it sound when He says “I never knew you”?

What shall I do with Jesus?

It’s time to answer…

Many (usually married) people say being single is a “blessing” and others say that you should “enjoy it while it lasts”. Whilst I appreciate the good intent in these words, to the single person they are often not helpful and can often compound the problem further. Worst still are the times married people will say to a single person “you don’t know how lucky you are” (usually after a row with their partner).

For the single person, just being single can be the hardest thing – all around you there are couples, society is geared for them. I speak from experience.

I was ‘called’ to be single and it lasted for over six years. By called I mean that I felt that God definitely wanted me to be single. So this was a fait accompli as far as I was concerned. I was under the illusion that I was to be single for the rest of my life. God never said that, he never put any time on it. I still believe he wanted me to be single during that time but I think he wanted me to trust him more than I did. Do I know why? No. Does it mean all single Christians have similar destinies? No. I think it was just what was meant for me. I wonder if it might have been easier for me had I been less stubborn but looking back I am grateful for God’s mercy during that time of my life.

Anyway after six years, I had the feeling the Lord was ‘calling me’ out of single-ness. Everything seemed to point to it and the confirmations were there from external sources. My hopes were high, I was using terms like “out of the desert” and “end of a season” a lot. I had somehow stumbled into a friendship which developed into something deeper as well. It seemed as if it was all falling into place. The relationship – and my world – changed when I asked my girlfriend to marry me – and she said yes.

My fiancée didn’t live near me so much of our communication was done by phone and e-mail. Four days before I was due to go and visit I lost contact with her. I was in panic but when I finally got through to her she said that she felt the Lord was saying it was “all wrong” (see footnote) and this was why she had been out of contact, she was trying to find a way to tell me. End result – she called it all off and the only “answer” I had was a big exclamation mark over my head with my mouth wide open.

I was devastated. My sister and her family generously offered me a space on their holiday. Married people take note, sometimes single people want to be included so lets have no more of this leaving them out of dinner parties because you’re afraid they’ll feel like a gooseberry! Anyway, after my holiday I felt a little better (see touching a heart for more on this) and did some soul searching.

Married people take note, sometimes single people want to be included so lets have no more of this leaving them out of dinner parties because you’re afraid they’ll feel like a gooseberry!

I realised, slowly that I had built my life around (if you’ll excuse the pun) a solitary question “Am I supposed to be single?” It became a real burden for me. I realised I had fallen in love with the ideal of being a husband – everyone said I’d make a good one, so there you go!

But I was wrong, I got it wrong. How did I get it so wrong!!!

The anger was coming,

“why me!”

I could feel it’s familiarity

“Why can’t I just have one shot at this!”

It grew as I fed it

“WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THE ONE WHO IS SINGLE!!!!”

Then God responded. Very, very quietly, He responded.

I was watching a Christian teaching video. The preacher was speaking about holiness. Yeah, yeah heard it – next message please. But God wanted me to hear something else. Just one phrase.

The pastor on the TV looked right (I mean real close up) into the camera and said “you people at home – when was the last time you lived your life for God and not yourself?!”

WHAM! – Cue the fish impressions and the exclamation mark again.

Later (much later) I got back to thinking about this…

“That’s it?” – I mumbled through a quivering lip “But what about being single?”

Silence

“Okaaay, what about being married?”

The silence continued. Then quietly I asked myself, “But what about the way I am living my life?”

If you can hear God smile, I heard it.

Then it came. Slowly, but it came to me. I had based my life on the wrong question – “single or not?”. It should have been “holy or not?” ….. I had to get my life right.

I thought the day we broke up was the worst day of my recent life but I realised the worst day I could possibly have was to stand before the throne of God Almighty and watch Him cry as He said “what did you do for Me?” and all I could answer was “er…um… well you see, I was kinda dealing with this issue of being single…”.

Reflection

So I guess what I am saying is that I had a choice, I could aim for an answer to my question or get down to work so that I could see as well as hear that smile on the face of God.

Would I rather give up everything to become a husband or part of The Bride of Christ?

So did I give up on being married?
Not give up, I laid it down. In the end it would have dragged me down and away from the loving arms of my God. I looked at the options… single, married? There’s a better option… holy.

Better to be holy and single or holy and married that just single or married. What is holy? I’m not sure and I think it’s more about the journey to holiness. For me it’s about being more of who God wants me to be than doing what I want. That may sound like a cliché but it doesn’t make in less important. We are all on a journey and for mine I have found myself more at ease with my life, with myself, when I am trying to be more of who God wants me to be than when I am not. As I found out the best bit about God is his grace. When I found myself in a mess of a life and realised the questions in my life weren’t helping I discovered God is a loving Father who let me learn my own lesson in my own time and helped me pick up the pieces.

So what about you? What are your questions? “Is this wrong job?”, “Is this the wrong church?”, “Am I in the wrong marriage?”. I can’t answer those any more than I could answer my own question. God can but he may not choose to. I would suggest that his concerns lie with something rather more dear to his heart in every case… “what about the way you are living your life?”. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” all the other answers come later, once we figure out what the real questions are.

Somebody asked me – “so are you supposed to be single or married?”

My answer?… “No. I am supposed to be God’s servant”

Thinking back I guess that persons facial expression matched Joshua’s when he asked the Captain of the Host, who’s side He was on and got the answer “No” “But a married or single servant?” they said, thinking they had beaten my answer

I thought about it…

“I think I had better get the serving bit right first don’t you?”

Offered in the love of Christ Ryan

Footnote

I would like to say that my girlfriend at the time was a very loving Christian. I know that what she did took real courage and I owe a lot to her for seeing it through. Had she not we could have both ruined our lives. She was right.
Therefore I would like to say here that I thank God for her, her inclusion here is for the sake of completeness and not to malign her in anyway – I apologise if it appears otherwise

Update

Some people have asked what happened regarding my marital status following these events. For those interested It was sometime before I found my thoughts going back to the question of a companion. I believe God took me through a season where He showed me more about myself with respect to this side of things. I met a beautiful woman at a local church. Just under two years later we married on the happiest day of my life. Funnily enough that was not because it was what I had always wanted but because I was starting to share my life with someone who loved me so much and whom I loved equally so and for both of us having God at the centre of our lives, together an apart, was paramount. We’re still together and still very much love each other.

It is important to say here that I do not think that my reflections above are a “magic formula” to wave over single peoples’ lives and hey presto they meet they future spouse. I just think I am truly blessed that God used my mess of a life to bring me to a place where I could be ready (well sort of) to be a husband and then introduced me to the perfect partner for me.

I don’t think the relationship I had prior to this one was evil and certainly not the woman involved. I just think it was not meant to be and one reason for that is that God wanted my wife and me to be together. Now that we are I can see why.

What all this means is I can see where I went wrong and I have repented of that. God has shown me where my attitude was way wrong in a lot of areas and I pray those involved will forgive me. I also pray I will have the humility to learn from my errors.

But as for now, I move on. I trust Him to see me through today and do not worry about tomorrow.

So now I am married, I am trying to live by my opening statements and remember the sometimes pain and also joy that being single can be. I remain repentant of my prior attitudes to marriage. One thing I have learned is that LIFE is a blessing – not SINGLE or MARRIED life but life itself. Marital status is a part of that life and no matter what that or any other part of it may bring we must remember Who it is that gives life – God must come first. I hope I can now continue my married life in the correct attitude and remain that way.

I don’t expect to be perfect, I expect to be imperfect.

My wife doesn’t expect me to be perfect, she knows I’m not.

These events fell as I prepared to “celebrate” my 30th birthday. The day happened to fall during my holiday in Devon with my sister, brother in law and niece, Hannah (who was eight at the time).

I was a bit down on the day before my birthday – not at all because of my impending age increase but because I had actually been due to spend my birthday with my girlfriend and we had just broke up.

I was obviously upset although I now see the Lord’s hand in it – but we won’t go delving into that now. Suffice to say I felt pretty rotten as the day that I had so much looked forward to approached.

We were staying in a townhouse on the Devon coast and – true to British Weather standards – it had rained for the first six days of our holiday, in fact it rained so much that much of the area was flooded.

So on the morning of my birthday I awoke to see there were few clouds in the sky – praise God for small mercies, but I was feeling pretty much numb about the whole day. This frustrated me even more as I thought I should have been happy it was my birthday. At this point I heard some footsteps and then a knock at my bedroom door. I said “come in” and it was opened by Hannah who smiled and held up a small envelope and said “Happy Birthday”. I suppose something about my demeanour was transmitted on my face as she seemed to question whether she had said the right thing.

Deciding to put a brave face on it I smiled and held put my hand for the card. She brushed this aside and gave me a huge hug and then ran out the door. I called to her as like most children she normally likes to watch people open cards and gifts but she never came back. So I opened the card muttering something about how I may as well get on with it anyway.

Hannah had handpicked this card, on it was a picture of a little girl drawing a teddy bear, using her own as a model, she was holding her thumb up to the teddy – ‘artist style’. This touched me as I often have spent time with her helping to draw and paint, I am “artistically inclined” (that’s the phrase my sister uses anyway!) and her parents confess to “enjoying it but not being very good at it”. The fact that this was her choice of card here showed me that she treasured those moments as much as I did (her mother had bought her a different one to send me but she refused as she had seen this one in a local shop).

Already my heart was warmer and then I read the neat childs handwriting inside. I later found that she had not allowed her parents to read this, but inside the card was blank save a small “Happy Birthday” and she had written this

To Uncle Ryan I love you very much So much it makes me feel good inside love Hannah xoxox

The message itself was enough to warm my heart and I wondered what I had done to deserve such love. I asked her later in a sort of joking manner why she loved me. She had replied “because you are MY uncle Ryan”. The emphasis on the “my” intrigued me and so (suddenly forgetting my previous gloomy demeanour) I asked her why she had said that way. Her answer was one of the sweetest things I had heard.

In keeping with many of the children at our church Hannah has got into the habit of calling many adults “Uncle” and “Aunt”, especially those she sees quite often – it’s a sort of term of endearment I suppose. Hannah has always referred to me as “MY Uncle Ryan” – I just had never questioned it before. Anyway Hannah’s reason for the “MY” was so that I knew that I was HER uncle Ryan and that although other kids called me that and that she has other uncles, I was, to her, a “special uncle” and she wanted me to know it.

After this my birthday blues seemed to fade away.

Reflection

This got me thinking though, Christ said unless we “become as a little child…etc.” and maybe here is something we can learn from them.

Hannah hand picked that card because she knew I would understand the personal meaning behind it. She wrote it privately because she wanted me to know that it was from her alone, just for me. She put in the effort of ensuring her writing was neat and she put in the thought behind the emphasis that I should know I was HER uncle. And she didn’t care if I told nobody about any of it. In truth I already knew that physically I was HER uncle (she is my only niece) but she wanted me to know that SHE knew it too. It was done for me, not for her, not for anyone else, just me.

That is what really touched me and it was that sort of thing that I realised I did so little of for MY Jesus.

• Maybe I could, and should, try to touch His heart.
• Maybe I could try to show Him that I really do appreciate the time and effort he has spent with me.
• Maybe I could try and do what would please Him rather than live as if He were a “get out of jail free” card.
• Maybe I can put in that extra effort to ensure my “personal” time with Him is not crammed between oversleeping and being late for work.
• Maybe, instead of just reading the bible I could try to understand it and see how He wants me to apply it my life.
• Above all, maybe I could do it for Him, not me, not for anyone else to see, just Him.

Maybe you could too?

Now there’s a thought.

Offered in the Love of Christ Blessings Ryan

You want some answers?

You may not believe in God, many claim not to and it is your choice. You may believe in “some sort of supreme being or influence but not God “per se” , that also is your choice. You may believe in God but “can’t stand the hypocrisy in churches today”. You may believe that there are many ways to God and ultimately all “religions” end up at the same place. You may believe that the Bible is nothing more than a set of stories that outline moral structures for life.

Well, people believe many things and have many questions about God. I don’t have the answers and I don’t claim to have them. I can’t directly answer any questions you have about life, because I didn’t write the book on it, I can point you to the One who did write the book and Who is also THE answer. One of the things I can and will do is tell you about Jesus and what He means to me and why I love Him.

Read on

I have been blessed by being brought up in a family that knew Jesus. My family has attended church for as long as I can remember. Both my parents were saved when I was small so I suppose it was natural for me to show some sort of interest in God and have some belief in Him. I just accepted that this Jesus was the Son of God because the people around me told me so. I attended Sunday School and accepted the Bible stories I was told as the truth.

I was just a child

Then, when I was about seven I stood in front of the church with others and got sorted with God. I accepted that Jesus had died for all my sins and asked him to be my Lord.

I was just seven and many, at the time and since, said “what sort of sins could a child of seven have done that were so bad”. People said that I was just doing it to please my parents and I didn’t know any better.

“I just did it for Mum and Dad”

Over a period of time I told myself the same thing and almost began to believe it. After all I couldn’t have really given my heart to Jesus because people who did that were changed somehow. I didn’t feel any different. Yet I knew I had accepted Him as my Saviour I just hadn’t received that “experience” that good testimonies are made of. no blinding flash of light, no dreams, no visions, no audible voice. I just felt the same way I always had. As far as I knew I hadn’t even been that bad anyway I mean I was no criminal, I hadn’t been running from God like others I heard of. I thought I had a boring testimony, it could be summed up in a few words. “I was born into a Christian family, I became a Christian and carried on as before.”

I spent ages looking for that one experience that would liven up my testimony. Something that would cause people to see just what God could do. I kept waiting – no flash of light. I kept waiting – still no flash of light. If something did happen, like if I had a prayer answered, I would judge it and tell myself that it might have been God but it wasn’t the “experience” I was waiting for. Eventually I asked God for it. “Give me some sort of miraculous experience” I asked. It never came.

Or did it?

My life was “boring”

One day, (I can’t say exactly when because I don’t know if it happened at an exact point in time or over a period of time) I began to look back at my life in frustration that it was “boring”. I began to look back at various events like things at school, my first job, my first car, my first car accident. No they all went without real problem, no one was hurt, and I came through them without a problem. No troubles there then, so therefore no need for God to intervene. I looked at many events in that way I slowly I saw a pattern forming. I realised that I’d had what I considered a normal, “boring” life.

Then I realised that there were many who would consider my life a luxury. I am not boasting or being big headed, just admitting that I’m better off than I thought. I can remember people telling me I was “lucky” to have parents like mine, or even to have them at all, yet I had considered them part of the package. I remember people telling me I was “lucky” to have all the things I had yet I had taken them for granted. I realised that Jesus had been in my life from such an early age that I had take Him for granted. I had come to expect the blessings he poured upon me as part of every day life. I had been looking for this miraculous “experience” and I hadn’t realised that my life was one! I stood, aged seven, in that church and told God I was sorry and I asked Him to forgive me. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and be with me always. Well God did forgive me, because Jesus gave His own life in place of mine. Jesus did come into my heart and He never left it, because I asked Him to. Imagine, a child made a plea to the Son of Almighty God and He not only heard, He answered. He stayed and kept me throughout my life He enabled me to share in blessings that others didn’t have. All those times when I thought he had nothing to do, He had got there first and made it easier for me. He has been with me all my life and I have largely ignored Him, yet He hasn’t left, got frustrated or angry, He didn’t complain, He never stopped loving me, no matter what I did.

In the bible it talks of God as a shepherd who “prepares a table” for His sheep (Psalm 23). Well I recently read a book by a Christian man who spent much time as a shepherd in eastern Africa (“A Shepherd looks at the 23rd Psalm” by Philip Keller). He mentions how , as a shepherd, he would go before the the sheep and prepare the tableland meadow by removing all the weeds and thorns and debris that often arises in wild meadows. Then he would lead the sheep to the newly prepared tableland where they could enjoy the lush grass without even knowing about the things he had removed for them.

When I read that I saw that this is what Jesus had done for me. As my shepherd He had gone before me and prepared the meadow and then led me to it.

So what’s special about me?

So in considering this I asked myself “Why should I get this treatment? What have I done to deserve this? What special about me then?” The answer came. Not in a flash of light, not audibly, not in a vision and not by somebody else coming to me and saying “God told me to tell you this..” The answer was already there, I knew it all along and it was part of what I had considered my “boring” testimony. There is nor has never been any difference between me and anyone else, except Jesus. There is nothing special about me, I am just normal. The reason I get this treatment from God is because I asked for it. Not directly, but I asked I asked God to forgive my sins, I asked Him to accept Jesus’ blood as payment, I asked Jesus to become my personal Saviour and I asked the Holy Spirit to be part of my life. The rest of it, all the blessings, all the times He looked after me, all the patience He had, all the guidance that I often ignored, all the Love. All that was part of the package and there’s much more besides.

Why I Love Jesus

So you want to know why I love Jesus? It’s because He is special, it’s because he did nothing to deserve the death He endured for me, it’s because He promised to be with me and even though I took Him for granted and ignored Him, He kept His promise. It’s because no matter what I do, He’ll always love me. Because He doesn’t judge my deeds the way I judged His, He forgives them. It’s because He has enabled me to have the best, most exciting part of any testimony anybody could have, and it cost me nothing.

I love Jesus because He paid for my sins with His life, not because I asked Him to, not because He had to, but because He wanted to, because He loves me. I love Him because He kept His promise when I didn’t keep mine and because He never let go.

For too long, I felt like I had done nothing bad enough (big headed, I know) for Him to save me from – but I WAS WRONG.

Salvation isn’t about what you’ve done or been, it’s about what you haven’t done and been. There was nothing special about me, I was and am no different to anyone else and Jesus died for me in the same way and with the same love He has for you. Part of why Jesus died was so that we (you and me) could have return to the sort of relationship with Our Father (The One who gave us our very lives) that mankind was made for. Realisation that what we are, in our very nature, has kept us away from God and the love He has for us, is a big part of salvation but it’s not all of it. Salvation is a beginning that has no end.

It really happened

Every now and then I look back over my life. Often I reflect on moments when He was right there in front of Me and at the time I knew it, but I allowed the memory to fade. Other times He was there and I didn’t know until afterwards. I know now that I have “seen” the visions, “heard” the voice, had those “miraculous experiences”, I had just dismissed them as not good enough! Thankfully the memories haven’t all disappeared.

For instance I can clearly remember my baptism when I was nine. As I went under the water the pastor’s face changed into the face of Jesus, I couldn’t tell you what he looks like but I know it was Him. Afterward I convinced myself that it must have been the distortion caused by the water over my eyes, but in my heart I know that’s not true. I know that, like the bible says, when I went under I spiritually died with Christ and then he himself pulled me out and raised me as a new creation.

I’m still looking

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t given up on those experiences I was seeking, but I have changed my opinion of what constitutes miraculous. Those miraculous experiences will and have come, because God is faithful even when we are not. However, now I also appreciate that everything God does is a miracle, because they are all things that wouldn’t happen without Him. He gives me every breath I take. He opens every flower petal one by one. He causes the sun to shine, He makes the rain fall to refresh the ground.

Recently my wife gave birth to our Son. I was there and I have to say that if ever you want to see miracle then that is it. To watch over nine months as he grew from barely a seed to a full human being and to be there as he breathed his first breath was a moving experience. Somebody described birth to me as the last miracle. It’s not the last one but it is one of the most common.

So what all this means is that I still want the Lord to do something miraculous in my life, but not for my benefit but for His glory. Everything He does for me is a miracle so I know I can rejoice in Him in everything.

I’m not perfect

Of course , knowing this is not the answer to everything, and it doesn’t mean that I get it right. But the whole point of what Jesus did for me is so that I can afford to make mistakes because He paid my price for them.

So now what?

You probably guessed this bit was coming but the thing about Jesus is you can’t ignore him. You either believe him or you don’t. So what I am asking is does your life just meander through with little or no sense of direction? Do you feel like a pinball, bouncing from one flipper to the next? Does it feel like no matter what you do there is always something missing? Consider Jesus, he may never have heard you call his name except when you hit your thumb with a hammer but he loves you enough that he paid for every bad thing you ever did or will do, with his own life. Even if you feel like nobody else looks out for you except yourself, remember that Jesus was there when you took your first breath. Why – because he is a shepherd and that’s what they do, he clears the way for you to get to the God who loves you. the way that is currently blocked by the stuff you have done.

Would you like to know Jesus in the way He wants you to? Maybe you’ve never met Him, maybe you have but you’ve ignored Him like I did. Maybe you’re thinking that he is all I have said and more but that in itself means he would never touch you or love you. You think you’re just not good enough. Well, he loves you, so much so he brought you to this page.

You may feel like he is a million and one miles away but he is right there with his hand outstretched waiting for you to just turn and see Him there. He loves you as much as He loved the disciples, as much as loves the people who are in Bible, as much as he loves me. He has no favouritism, He died for all of us. My God is the God of Love and He has so much love to give you if you will only let Him. He asks nothing except that you acknowledge that love and what it did for you.

If you want to do something now, then you can. You can get right with God and take Him into your heart. If it helps you can say this prayer, like the prayer I made when I was seven. But you can use your own words. You don’t have to be in church, you don’t have to say it out loud, you don’t even have to have your eyes closed. (Honestly, you can check the new testament – hardly anyone gave their life to Jesus with their eyes closed!). You just have to confess that you are sorry for what you’ve done. You just have to accept that Jesus died for all that and through it God can forgive you. You have to just ask God to be the best friend you could ever have. God will hear it, He is longing to hear you say it and when He does He’ll answer it and make the promise that is part of that answer. He’ll never leave you, he’ll never back out, he’ll never let you down.

If you’re stuck for words, you can use these….

God, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all this time when I have not known you. I’m sorry for all the things I’ve done and said and thought that have kept me from you. Please forgive me. Jesus, thank you for dying for me. I don’t know why anyone would do such a thing for me but thank you for doing it. I ask you to come into my life from now on. I’m need your help. Help me to get closer to God. Help me to know his love. I want to make a fresh start today, now and I want it to be forever. Thank you. Amen

If you prayed that prayer or one of your own then you should know that as you did the whole of heaven rejoiced for you! We are talking about serious rejoicing here, God, the angels, everybody! Hmm, maybe that’s a little hard to imagine so let’s try to put it in perspective.

Imagine a football stadium filled with over a million fans all celebrating because their team has just won the championship, they’re even happier because their team was the underdog and nobody gave them a chance but they romped home. Imagine the marching bands on the pitch, dancing in the streets outside, singing, cheering, clapping, shouting as the cup is paraded. Think about the faces of each person and think about the players and the coach.

Got that image? Well it’s not even close to amount of celebration there is in heaven when one single person turns to God like you just have.

Please let me know and let me know, so that I can pray for you.

If you still aren’t sure, that’s okay but if you have any questions you can e-mail me. I would ask that you don’t just e-mail abuse at me (it has been known and believe I’ve heard it before) but if you have a genuine question please ask.

So What’s Next?

If you just got sorted with God and made a fresh start. Find a local church and tell someone there what happened. If you have a couple of local churches and aren’t sure which one to go to, pray. Ask Jesus to guide you to the one He wants you to go to. His answer may be something simple like it being the closest one, or maybe a friend or neighbour attends, but He will answer. Above all, don’t be embarrassed to tell the people at the church what it is you’ve done. If they know Jesus they will rejoice with you.

If you still have questions then find someone you trust who is a Christian and ask them. Many churches have something called “seeker services” or courses like the Alpha course. These are designed to help you get the answers you want. If you get really stuck then mail me and I’ll do my best to answer.

Offered in the Love of Christ Blessings _Ryan _