St Olav

Blogging time this week as been directed at establishing a new web site for our new bookstore.  The chain that ran a Christian bookstore in town had got into difficulties and was closed down by the charity commission in August.    Some people in the city formed a new trust to open and run an independent Christian Bookstore and resource centre, and I agreed to become a trustee.

The bookstore is in an old church building - the oldest building in the city - and has been let to us at a peppercorn rent by the diocese.  We've got a cross section of trustees from churches in the area, and are looking to provide a range of literature to suit a variety of styles.

Yesterday we opened and had a good day of sales - a promising start.  There is quite a bit of excitment that there is a shop back in town!

Now the 'website', which is another  blog, needs some redesigning to make it in to a proper website.  A new adventure for my (limited) technical skills...

http://www.stolavchristianbookshop.org/

Just for the sunrise

This is the sun rising over Inner Froward Point and the Mew Stone as we left Dartmouth (UK) on Deo Volente, a Nicholson 476, 26 June 2008.  We'd been 'stuck' in Dartmouth for 3 days (a most beautiful harbour in which to sojourn) because of strong winds, and identified a 5 hour weather window to make a short hop down to Salcombe.  The forecast was correct - by 11 am the wind was rising and we settled down in Salcombe for 3 more very windy days...

The trip was enlivened as we were motoring into a west-south-westerly breeze and a good swell about 200 metres off the cliffs of Prawle Point when our engine died.  (We later found out that it was a fuel blockage in the tank.)  Even now, looking back, I'm impressed with just how quickly we unfurled the sails.  A lee shore is a great motivator! 

We entered Salcombe under sail (not normally encouraged) and used the tender, a 10' RIB alongside, as the driving force to round smartly upwind and drop the anchor just off the beach at Mill Bay.  The Salcombe harbour staff couldn't have been more helpful, and later towed us to a mooring protected from the increasing wind.

No greater joy

This weekend our youngest turned 21.  About 50 friends and family came together for a celebration and some very nice things were said about him (being his father I can objectively say that they were all true!)

More years ago I than I care to remember I wrote a study on the words of an ancient writer, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.*"  Like the author, I've experienced the same many times with a number of 'children' - people who I've been privileged to assist in a spiritual birth & growth process, and who years later continue on that same journey. 

But in this situation, one's flesh and blood, there is added poignancy.  Like his older brother, when he was very young we had a service of dedication for him.  The dedication was ours, not his.  We thanked God for his arrival, and acknowledged that not only had God given him to us, but that we gave him back to God, committing ourselves to bring him up by example and teaching to follow God so that he might in time make his own informed choice to follow Jesus.  Well, despite my frequent mistakes and inconsistent parenting skills, by God's good grace he (like his older brother) did make that decision and continues to make Jesus a priority in his lifestyle choices and example.

As a parent one is influenced by all kinds of wishes for one's children.  Among them are happiness, health, wealth etc, etc.  But I remind myself that that which really matters is that they walk in the truth.  And I'm thankful to God for an amazing wife, Christian friends and a great church who have all lived out love and forgiveness, and taught our sons why the decision to follow Jesus is the key decision to make.

* The Bible, 3 John verse 4

Scott of the Antarctic

The Scott Polar Research Institue in Cambridge is publishing day by day the diary of Captain Scott during his tragic expedition to the South Pole.  They are doing it in the form of a blog - something we're familiar with - to help readers capture the spirit of the expedition, and the difficulties they went through.

You'll find it here: Scott's diary. As one old enought to be brought up with him on the list of 'British heroes' I confess to knowing relatively little about the expedition.  It's interesting reading - respect to them for their dedication to the cause through difficult circumstances, but also slightly morbid because we know what the result is going to be come March next year.  These are real people, not fictional characters.

What's in a name?

Last year I spent a week sailing with friends.  Well, that was the intention.  Thanks to the weather we only managed two short and one long (12 hour) trip.  The forecast as we set off from Lymington on the Saturday afternoon was for south westerly gales all day Sunday. So rather than heading out into Lyme Bay and thence to Devon, we settled for crossing Christchurch Bay and anchoring in Studland Bay, sheltered from the prevailing and forecast winds by the hills and cliffs of the Isle of Purbeck.

All day Sunday we rode to the wind and rain.  We ate, read, slept and relaxed, protected from the worst effect of the weather because we were in the lee of the land.  Only once the wind had dropped did we venture out, catching a favourable tide at 2:00am on Monday and arriving in Dartmouth mid afternoon.  (The picture shows Old Harry, the rock at the south eastern end of the bay.)

In conditions beyond your capability it's great to be sheltered in the lee of something bigger and more robust than you.  Thirty eight years ago I came to realise that facing the storms of life required something bigger than me.  So I chose to place my trust in a man from Nazareth, sent from heaven 2000 years ago with the express purpose of dying.  This death was not to be a normal death, but an undeserved and substitutionary 'in my place' death the Roman way, crucified on a wooden cross.

This decision continue to be a life changer for me.  It demands a radical commitment to following the teaching and model of Jesus.  It has delivered forgiveness from God and an ongoing confidence that life is not just about the here and now, but has the guarantee of forever with him in a place dominated by his awesome presence.

So I've placed my life in the shelter  - or lee -of the cross of Jesus.  And coincidentally, the blog name is also a wordplay on my name.

When authority is the problem

I've been reading 1 Samuel this past week, and have been reminded that David, whose life was threatened by Saul for a number of years, was given 2 opportunities to kill Saul. Once, in the cave, urged on by his men, Saul was at his mercy, but David chose just to cut off a portion of Saul's robe. On another occasion David crept past Saul's guards into his camp at night, taking Saul's spear and water jug to demonstrate that he had been close enough to Saul to kill him.

Why didn't he kill him? After all, life would have been so much easier with Saul out of the way. And you would be hard pressed to argue that Saul didn't deserve it.

The key is that David knew that God had placed Saul in that position (Saul was God's anointed king) and therefore it wasn't David's responsibility to remove Saul to enable David's own protection or promotion. If God wanted David to move from being king-in-waiting to being king, then God would have to do it.

Sometimes, like David must have wished, I'd like to accelerate my progress in one walk of life, or another. Sometimes I know of friends who are working for a supervisor or boss whose influence is disruptive or damaging. Other times there is that job you'd really like but it's "dead men's shoes", in other words you can't get that position until another person moves on.

David is a great lesson for us. Whereas some people might be tempted to betray a boss, indulge in a bit of character assassination, or in another way actively participate in their removal, our response should be, with God's help, to do the best we can in the circumstances, and trust Him to take care of the problem.

Romans 13, verses 1 & 2:
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (NIV)

For David to have slaughtered Saul would have been presumptuous. Like saying, "God, I know best." Often God will do more in our lives helping us work through difficulty that by us short-cutting that difficulty and removing someone in authority over us.

And when God is ready, the door will be opened for you.

Guarding against idolatry

This week the challenge from Exodus 21-24 was "no other gods... no idols".

The two questions that have got me thinking are:
"What do you think about when your mind in in neutral?"
"What do you do during your idle moments?" (No pun intended?)

An objective observer of my own life over the past week would conclude that ______ is my god.

I'm still thinking about this. What about you?

Sovereignty

Reading in Genesis this week. Was reminded of the planning and control of God. Through all of his circumstances God was preparing Joseph for the role of saving his family. Not a bad reminder that even in the difficult circumstances there is a God at work.