Penny, death, a personal reflection

There was a time when life seemed to be straightforward and almost endless. It comes with age I guess that we all realise our mortality and the shortness of life. The last year of Penny's life added a depth to that realisation. 

Losing Kristy to cancer came as a sudden shock. But the suddenness of that was far easier to deal with than the protracted death that Penny went through. What is the point of months, and for some people years, of just lying in bed with little to look forward to and no real hope of anything better.

Amongst other things this made me reflect on what was once for me a very simple attitude toward assisted suicides. They were a no no. Penny was in no pain and was enjoying seeing people and having some purpose to life. She also had the underlying attitude of a child looking forward to Christmas. Death for her was to be akin to waking up on Christmas morning.  But my heart goes out to those who have no such hope; who suffer constant pain and simply go on surviving.

Penny got to an encouraging stage of getting out of bed on her own and walking a little. But the cruel twist was that it was the chemo that put her in bed in the first place, whilst the cancer went on unabated.  It was the chemo that aged her and took her hair, not the cancer. How many people go through the pain of false hope and not knowing that there is more to life than this life!

You must be born again?

I have been to hear both Tony Campolo and Dave Tomlinson recently and they have set me thinking about what Jesus taught. Dave would have us believe that it is all about following the way of Jesus; going on a journey with Christ; that the light of Christ is in all men; we are all on a journey; Jesus did not preach any theology per se, i.e. nothing that we have to believe to be saved! Tony too points us to the words of Jesus, to the Red Letters. His line is "What would happen if we took the words of Jesus seriously", i.e. rather than basing our beliefs on Pauline theology in the epistles. Dave was keen to point to the words of Jesus, except that he didn't for instance refer to passages like "You must be born again". That's what set me thinking. To be born is to come into a world, unseen before, with no understanding and everything to be learned from scratch. Is that what Jesus meant? Start over; wipe the slate; "forget the former things"; "behold I make all things new". As I say elsewhere, as you get older, as a Christian, you tend to get more tolerant and less dogmatic. I am uncomfortable with the predigested evangelical "gospel" which is the good news that you're all going to hell unless you believe what we believe! That's Good News?!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is it feasible that people can be born again without hearing about Jesus? Is the Spirit of God capable of changing people without hearing a preacher? When Jesus said "It is finished", did he mean that he had dealt with sin, once and for all, or was there small print? If people must be born again in order to stay out of hell for eternity, why aren't the 1000's of Christians in this country leaving the pews behind to go tell people?

Penny

Being a hopeless blogger this is the first update since 2009.

I cannot move on without at least putting down a marker to remember Penn, who passed away in May 2010.

Our memories are rich and she is much missed by many.

Malcolm

REFLECTION ON LAKELAND

I came across this in an old email today and was struck by my own words!

It's very difficult to reduce to a few lines what is happening in the Florida Outpouring. But I will try. I'm writing this in the present tense while we are still here.

First it is very different being here than watching on T.V. There is very little hype. There is on the contrary a marvellous mix of awe, wonder, surprise, fun ( Joy - if you're religious ), Glory, Presence. People are so hungry for God - and the Buffet, ladies and gentlemen, is open.

This is everything I've ever experienced of God, but all at once. It beats Brazil or Argentina or any other "conference" hands down. We are both exhausted, Chris is still in bed @ 11.00 in the morning, because physically this is draining. We've both lost our voices and can barely stand up. ! :)

Why should God choose now to come in such uninhibited power ('POW'er). Perhaps because "hope deferred makes the heart grow sick". We have prayed for years and God seems to have ignored us. Perhaps he has come before we gave up all hope. But boy has he come.

This wasn't planned or engineered. It is spontaneous. It isn't about one man either although on T.V. it looks like just Todd. This is a team ministry. There is such fun being had on the platform. Most of the healings are happening off stage either spontaneously or through the prayer team.

This is Toronto (Father's Heart) plus Pensacola (Repentance & Renewal) plus miracles and healings, but above all the Glory! It's the tangible presence that is so strong. If God was much more present I suspect that we would die. AWE is the best word for it.

I watched last night as two people got up out of wheelchairs and two more regained their sight and it's hard to take in what you're seeing. 

And what about Chris? The metal is still in his back, but he is able to bend. How does that work. Has the Titanium become something else?

What has happened to us? Time will tell. We may have just become Christians! :) i.e. "these signs shall follow those who believe".

Five large bush fires now raging across the state. Co-incidence? It shouldn't be the fire season yet. Its come early.

Malc

Ireland Blog – March 2009

Friday March 13th (unlucky for some!) onwards

Started with the strange business of not finding my glasses. Seemed as if that had to do with “not seeing things clearly in Ireland”. Perhaps a suggestion of needing to be led, not take the lead.

The fact that there are now three homeless people living at Darkley is a great connection for me / FAITH.

There seems to have been some odd goings on support-wise. Cross-fire have been cut off from RCC in terms of funding. So we have that in common! Dave told me that Mabel was no longer a trustee and Ian asked how she was, so I came to my own conclusions. May ask more. May not.
Ian showed me their flyer for St. Patrick’s day, which ends with an invitation to come to the house for stew and to meet a present day St. Patrick. I smiled and said, “That’ll be me then.” To which Ian replied, “Exactly, Pauline didn’t see it at first. So many people forget that Patrick was an Englishman.”

Working on the globes for the parade I think I heard the Holy Spirit say, “There you go Malc, if you had a ‘ministry’, you wouldn’t be here gluing bits of paper onto a globe!” I wouldn’t swop for all the tea in China!

So we come to St. Patrick's Day itself and the parade in Armagh.

Not all perhaps as you may have expected. Yes Darth was there.

Facebook Rules

Wow.

How long since I posted an entry.

Did anyone notice I wonder?

Facebook has kind of taken over! 

Sweden

Was in Sweden for a couple of weeks in September with Martin Scott and a lovely young lady from the Leatherhead area by the name of Kristina.


Loads of travelling, far to much sitting around, far too much talking, too much food and probably not enough sleep. Lots of lovely people and a real sense that God is on the move and likely to pop up where we least expect him, especially if we still insist on lookin inside the four sqaure walls of our buildings.


Most memorable mo?



Probably praying at the spring/well where Sigfried baptised the first king to convert to Christianity. A brave man to venture into Viking lands.

A bit easier to spot than St. David's well I'm sure Martin would agree.

SANKOFA Photos now on facebook

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