Dealing with death

What do you say to someone who has just lost their daughter?What do you say when a young life has been taken ?

Turns out you don’t say much at all ,you just listen.There are no words that can comfort the pain of a loss like that, there are no words that can even touch and any words  that are used seem  to be almost cold.So as I discovered last night on visiting a friend in this situation you just listen.You listen and you pray and as you listen and pray you hear the pain and you also hear the despair,but mixed through all of that you also hear the hope .You hear the words of hope that come from the person who has just lost there daughter and you hear the anger and disappointment of the relationship that will now never be.Gods people never cease to amaze me in the way they demonstrate such amazing grace in such difficult times .

Evening Times Community Champions Awards

Our little community centre in Bridgeton has won the right to host the community champions event with the Evening time.Well done to all the staff there as I know they worked so hard to make sure the event came to Bridgeton.The evening times host some great stuff about our communities on its website http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/communities and does some great work in pointing out the hard work that local people put in to there communities.The event will be held in  BCLC 22^nd April 2010 from 6 to 8.30 .The BCLC can be found at Dale st Bridgeton Glasgow, G40 4TN

Glasgows lost and hurt

Last night I visited a few friends who have been through incredible trauma within the church and have somehow survived.They are very down to earth folk who suffered greatly when there church decided to leave behind the folk from the scheme.i felt heart broken as we spoke and thought about all the people I know across the city who have come to faith and then been lost as church left them behind.

This conversation reminded us of just how difficult it can be to see any kind of church work and thrive in the schemes in our city.Some of the folk we work with have hooks so deep its very difficult to se them free.It takes years and a great deal of energy but it is worth it.As I sat in the house of that family last night and spoke about the good things God had done and the challenges they had been through I couldnt help but give thanks to God.But at the same time I felt myself crying out for those who have lost there way.those who struggle with generations of violence and drug and alcohol abuse those who have nobody to look up to and those who have been abandoned by a church that wants growth over people.

I felt like I reset myself to speak for those with no voice and to somehow call the church back to its roots of looking for the broken and sick and sticking with them until they learn to stick with God.But sadly we had to accept that even with all that help some people dont make it like the boy who passed away this week on his own and scared of life .Can the church remember the lost and hurt and repent for the fact that at times we have added to that hurt instead of healing it.

When September ends

This month is one of the most important months of the year for me and maybe even of my life.I have family staying with me from Holland 5 adults and a 7 month baby girl who is real treat always ready with a smile and a laugh.My cousin and best friend Tommy is about to be married on Saturday and im the best man.And as well as all that going on my oldest son Craig will become a father any day now although we have been saying that for a week (when will this baby come).

On top of that the local council seem set on buying my factory for redevelopment which leaves me looking for a new place although with the council you never know what to excpect.I also have my duties as a board member of the Bridgeton community learning campus where we are faced with major problems.

Thankfully church seems to be going well and this week we will have Gordy sharing on a Sunday for the first time in years.We have known him for a long time now and he was badly scared by the church a few years ago so its great to see him being restored .He is a gifted guy who has a great ear for hearing what is on the heart of God .Go on Gordy!!!

The healing of fellowship

Just to say that being together today was amazing.Just having the opportunity to share in a safe place to be able to be honest and not be judged but loved and to find Gods word bringing new life to people was incredible.

We had a visit today from an old friend who said he had been going around different places looking for God,he had been reading books looking for God and talking to people looking for God.He came along today and listened to me tell everybody about my failures and how I felt I had lost God ,then how God finds us a gain.The good Shepherd doesn’t give up on us.I read Ps 139 and I could feel the God bless people with it.I just wanted to be honest with people and with God ,I had nothing to give so that’s what I gave but God is so wonderfully faithful to his creation.

We were asked to pray for our visitor at the end and I have a feeling we may be seeing a bit more of him for a while .He told us how blessed he was and that he had found Jesus among us today.He doesn’t know it yet but just to hear someone say that, blessed all of us and reminded us not to take what we have for granted.

Can God can be found in the darkness

Psalm139

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Sometimes its difficult to escape the darkness that surrounds us in times of trouble and the desire of our hearts can be to hide in that darkness but these words have always given me great comfort .The God of David is a God who looks for us and can see us at our best and at our worst this can be disturbing for us to know that God can see us warts and all but it also brings about the greatest of hope.The hope comes from knowing that we are KNOWN yet no abandoned or forsaken that God is not like us he will not give up on what he has created .God will not leave his creation to its own ways he will rescue us.

Darkness can be the a great place for growth ,for coming to new revelations of the height and depth of Gods love.Darkness can be character building.But we need people around us who can see that darkness and who can walk through it with us.To many times out of good intentions people try to drag us back into the light when we are not ready.David would never have seen the heart of God without these times of darkness.

No Peace

Over the last few weeks I have slowly felt my peace get up and go.A part of that is down to me not looking for God and his peace in my life.This then leaves me open to all the old problems of anger and violence that I have never really escaped from.
My mother has been very sick with blood poising and I struggled to keep it together as it was touch and go for a few days.The doctors have since told us they thought they had lost her.I went between great fits of rage to breaking down in tears I let myself down and my family and the only part of God I felt I had left was my conscience which made me at least try to repent for the stupid ways I behaved.
I could feel the rage rush over my head and I lashed out at everyone and anyone.And then would break down in tears.Now I know what your thinking “this man leads a church”and you have a point.I felt like everybody wanted me to give something and the only thing I was giving was anger.Once again I need to try to learn that the only place I can get any peace is in the presence of God.
We are going away for a few days to a Loch side log cabin so I hope to come back in a better mood.