Jeff Lucas And Adrian Plass Seriously Funny Tour

After the week I'd had, if these guys hadn't made me laugh there would have been trouble!  They did not disappoint.

Having read their Seriously Funny book I knew they were funny guys, but if I'm honest I wasn't expecting much, I mean, come on, Christian comedy?

Ever heard the phrase 'comedy timing'? Adrian Plass could give a master class in it, his delivery was so good he had you laughing in anticipation of what you knew was going to be a well worth waiting for punchline!

I did wonder if it would just be a 'live' re-telling of the stories in their book, but I only recalled about two, so there were lots of new laughs.

They cover many Christian related topics, such as speaking in tongues, where if you find yourself in a highly charismatic/pentecostal church and it is expected of you, but you don't have this gift, you can get away with it by reciting the 1990 Sri Lankan cricket team!

And about how to cope on meeting the 'perfect' all-round Christian family, whose children all play musical instruments, and they have 'family worship' together and they turn to you and ask how you organise your family-fellowship time!

They were able to find humour in topics as dark as death and depression, without being disrespectful or irreverent, and as with the book, they seamlessly weaved hysterical anecdotes with the message that Jesus is a good guy to get to know, without being at all 'preachy'.

Well recommended if you can get tickets for the last few dates, and you could easily take a non-Christian friend without cringing!

Laugh Like A Drain...........Maybe Not.

I commented on a blog post about being blessed, that although we haven't got hot water in our house, at least we have an electric shower and clean running water.........

Well that was true.  Our drains are now blocked, so without very limited use of the water they back up and spill over into our utility and garage area.

Some people face sickness in the family over and over again.  We just seem to have all the household and vehicle failures over and over again.

We are both self-employed, my husband after finishing one business and looking for a job unsuccessfully for two years, started another business, so money is minimal and added to the fact we are majorly in debt, well, these are exactly the sort of problems we can do without.

It makes my chest tight, it makes me feel sick inside, it makes me want to go to bed and not get up.  My head thinks the only thing that can solve our problems is money - about £40,000 if you're offering.

But in my heart I know that we can survive with broken down cars and no washing machine and wondering if it's safe to flush.  I know this time will pass and when our kids our grown and have made a success of their life (because they will learn from the mess that is ours), we will look back and laugh.  At the moment we laugh through gritted teeth, because we know will either cry, or worse, kill each other.

Philippians 4:12 (NIV) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

You understand I see this as relevant to the area of the world I live in.  I am well aware that some poor people have to walk miles to collect dirty water and could probably get shot on the way.

My 'needs' and my 'plenty' are vastly different to other peoples.  Maybe my 'needs' and 'plenty' are exactly how they should be at the moment.

People always say "at least you've got your health".  I don't think being healthy is all it's cracked up to be, for now, I'd rather be comfortably numb.

Don't Be Like Job's Friends

Not sure how sticking a sanitary towel on your head helps when you are ill.  Anyway...........

Our town has been hit by a lot of illness lately, more than just your common winter cold or flu.

People are coming down left, right and centre with horrible chest infections, which in many cases have turned to pneumonia.


About 6 weeks ago one of my friends turned up to our homegroup and confessed she was finding every day life a real struggle.  Just your normal things, kids, house, husband working late.  It was all starting to take it's toll.  Of course being the lovely Christian people we are, we prayed for her and immediately offered our help where we could, sharing school/club pick-ups etc.

Little did she or we know what the following weeks would bring, from that date to this 4 of their 6 family members have had pneumonia - two of them hospitalised.  She is still sane - just about!

Around the same time 6 weeks ago, I decided I wanted to read the Bible chronologically.  So I started through Job.  Good timing.  God's clever like that you see.  We all said we'd be good friends and support her without having a clue what that was about to involve.

Job's friends thought he must have done something or had an unconfessed sin which had brought about all his trouble.  That is an easy reaction for us to have today, I myself in the past have thought "God, what did I do, why is all this happening?"

Job hadn't done anything, he was right with God and faithful to Him, but God did not enlighten him as to why he was suffering disaster after disaster.  Job, got annoyed with his friends for indicating he must have brought it on himself, and questioned God.

My friend is a very wise, loving and caring Christian person.  I know she must have faults somewhere, but I haven't seen them!  I'm glad I was reading Job because it helped me to not distort my view of why people go through periods of suffering.

We may never fully understand in this life why some of us go through what we go through.  Sometimes after the event it becomes clear.  Other times it's just a time to get through and forget about.  If you know God, that will be enough, you will not need to know 'why?'

Weekly Song Round Up

The Script are one of my favourite current bands, some of their songs are quite challenging in questioning the existence of God and looking for something to believe in, but I can't deny their lyrical talent!

I was listening to them this week and 'I'm Yours' came on and I realised I was singing along and I was singing it to Jesus.

Jesus gave everything to us, and no matter how messed up we are He still wants to love us and spend time with us. For some unfathomable reason He values us! The least we can give Him is ourselves.

Can you say "I'm Yours" to Jesus?

The Father, Son And The Holy Go-between.........

We can all understand and identify with the Father & Son characters in the trinity, we all have a parent and we are all someones child, regardless of how that relationship has been for you, I think it is reasonable to say we can draw a parallel from our experiences to understand the identities of God and Jesus.

So The Holy Spirit, ever known one of those? Is the Holy Spirit there just to translate messages to and fro between us and God? When we finally 'get' a piece of scripture we've read a dozen times, is that the sum of the Holy Spirits role?

You could look at Him like that, but He is so much more.

Last night we read John 16, a passage I have heard many times, but for some reason last night it really moved me.  Probably just the Holy Spirit giving me a dig.

⁷ But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
⁸ When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
⁹ in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
¹⁰ in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
¹¹ and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

Jesus is telling His disciples He has to leave them and go to Heaven to be with God, but instead another person will be with them in His place, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus sees that as a good thing, as a progression in the plan.  The Holy Spirit will highlight to us what is going on in the world. He will bring to our attention the sin in our lives and the need to make it right.

So, how to identify with the Holy Spirit? Ever watched the news and been enraged at injustice? Seen a charity fundraiser with images of starving children and cried in despair? Watched a country get torn apart by war and prayed desperately for peace?

If there were no God, you wouldn't feel emotion at such things, the Holy Spirit is God and we do all feel there are terrible injustices, that is the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to the truth around us.

Jesus took the form of man, so when He was on earth He could only talk to the people who were with and around Him, He couldn't be all over the world at once.  God is in Heaven and we are on earth,  the Holy Spirit is on earth so that God and Jesus can be with us whoever or wherever we are at all times.

What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you lately?

I Will Live My Life For You............Will I?

This song is very special to me, I'm sure all of us as Christians are in awe of the love Jesus has for us.  But when we sang it in Church this morning, it spoke to me differently.

God told me, "I accept your thanks for my sacrifice, but I want you to make some sacrifices, I want you to show the grace & love I have shown you to the ones that have hurt you beyond your understanding"

If I am living and giving my life for Jesus I have to express that in my attitude and actions to others.  I can't excuse it with, "but you will never believe how much ..........hurt me".

This has been a battle of mine for a while, and although I have done forgiving and talked and gone over and this and that, I just couldn't seem to get over that final hurdle of letting go of the
hurt.  I have prayed and others have prayed (including some of my fellow bloggers!) for a restoration of my marriage, and I really felt God say this morning that I could do it, I could freely give my life to show the grace that I needed to show, because God showed that same grace to me, knowing that I would hurt Him beyond understanding.

I have probably heard or read a million times 'we should live like Jesus and treat others with love etc...' but it is difficult to put into practice unless you are asking God through His Holy Spirit to help you do that.  That is why I know that today I understood the words of living my life for Him, to be relevant to what I was going through, because I had been asking God to work in me in that way.

Weekly Song round Up

OK, this week has made me think of a load of songs about young life and how it can be wasted!

The bonus in the Tom Petty video is it has Johnny Depp in it!

So many kids are out there making bad choices Skid Row 18 and Life These might just be fictional songs/stories but even if it comes true for one young kid it's too many. Alice Cooper I'm Eighteen I've gotta say I don't think I would ever want to repeat my teenage years and they weren't that bad compared to some, but I've got my skeletons that I buried and they affected my future.

I suppose what I'm thinking is if you know or have influence over young adults or kids who are just out of school, pay attention.  I think a big problem is teenagers don't realise there are people who will do anything to help them straighten their life out.  It took me 20 years to accept a little help and like I said I don't think I had it too bad, but my family I think, are unaware of what I was going through because I just didn't think there was anything anyone I could talk to.

Too Much Too Young

This week one of my daughters ex-classmates was killed when the quadbike he was riding crashed while being chased by the police.  He was 17.

He had been in and out of care and had made some bad choices, but by all accounts he was a nice lad.

I just can't get over the age. 17.  All you've ever really done is gone to school, everything is ahead of you and then.......it's over.

One of my friends has a niece who is dangerously ill with anorexia.  She is 18. I believe she has been ill with it for a number of years.  She is on the verge of being sectioned and if this happens it could put an end to her chances of pursuing a career in nursing.  This dreadful illness is threatening her whole future at just the age of 18.

One life tragically taken by a catalogue of wrong choices, no doubt led to by the lack of a stable up-bringing.  And another hanging in the balance because of a catalogue of believed lies.

I met my husband when I was 17.  That changed my future. What have you got if you haven't got your future?

The Post That Never Was.....

So, I just poured my heart out to you guys who may end up reading this when I realised there are only two people I need to talk to.

God and my husband.

God knows the score already, but I'm hoping he might let me in on how on earth I'm supposed to keep moving forward.

As for hubby, well, guess we just have to talk and keep talking.

So You Don't Forget........

 

 

Over at Gypsy Mama Today's Five Minute Friday topic is

Remember…

 

When I was at a very low point my dearest friend gave me a beautiful card with these words written inside.

"So you don't forget.......

You are......Loved

                     Forgiven

                     Valued

                     Worthwhile

                      NOT Guilty

                     Trusted

                     Needed as a Mum, a wife and a friend

                     Shame free

                    Made in God's image

                    Dependable

                    Here for a purpose

                    Special

                    ...........so smile! :)"

That card will be valuable to me for the rest of my life, maybe there are some words on there that you need to remember about yourself.