:: laughing : dreaming : watching : waiting ::

currently enjoying a break in dublin for a few days. staying in a hotel with a golf course, full gym, amazing food and great rooms! so refreshing to spend quality time with some people who are close to my heart. think even just changing the rhythm every so often is a really good thing.anyway, will blog more when i’m home! 

i’ve a competitive personality and an addictive gene. no doubt about it. its always been there. even when i was a kid i remember racing my mum and dad back to the car. they didn’t have a clue but i always wanted to walk quicker than then so that i reached the car first. that gave me a kick as a 5 year old.

i’ve seen my competitiveness and addiction come out in a big way this Christmas. first of all, i’ve joined an online chess community. going to get completely slated for that i know but its been great fun playing matches with people from all over the world. sometimes winning. sometimes not. but a great way for me to relax, as well as stretch my mind. sound like an old man in a residential home doing crosswords to keep his brain active for goodness sake.

but to keep my manliness in tact i’ve also been growing rather fond of my new Football Manager 08. this is the new version of the game that came close to ruining my A Levels, and this one is no less addictive. at times its been more tempting to play than read my bible. trying to get the balance between chill out times and feeding my soul this Christmas. always a struggle for me.

anyway, i think i’ve always viewed this competitve nature and addictive gene as a negative thing. i mean, i used to be addicted to gambling so that can’t be too positive i suppose…like the photo above suggests!! but i was at Manna last month and Stephen Cave was talking about how he was also competitive by nature. he too had always been told this was a negative trait but spoke of how it led him to always try things, dream dreams and push initiatives that no one else would be prepared to do.

since then, i’ve tried to embrace my competitive nature and channel it in a positive way. not always easy but much easier than trying to subdue a little piece of the way God has made me. so i’m asking Him continually to keep moulding me and shaping me, but at the same time, use the unique person He has created and crafted me to be. again a fine balance, but i’m wanting to explore this a bit in the next wee while and discover in what ways this can be channelled better.

i’ll let you know how i get on! any thoughts would be welcome…

there’s so much i love about Christmas!!! hope your all having an enjoyable day…

because He lives,
rick

I was speaking at ‘Network’ in my church last night - a community of 20’s and 30’s based around home groups, who come together every 6 weeks for worship and teaching.

As I was thinking about what I wanted to share this Christmas time, I was really struck with how God appeared at the burning bush. He described the ground Moses was standing on as holy. Yet it was just some desert. Some dirt. It was holy because God was now there.

And that reminds me of what happened at the first Christmas. Ordinary stables and dirty mangers suddenly become holy as God moves into the neighbourhood. God invaded the dirt.

And He still does today.

Our workplaces can become Holy ground if we allow God to invade and inhabit. Our homes can become Holy ground if we ask God to make His dwelling among us. Our messy situations can become holy ground as we invite God to come and stand with us in the midst of them. Our rugby teams – potential Holy ground. Our friendship groups – potential Holy ground.

And I’m encouraged that it doesn’t have to be the best situation before God will inhabit it. Because He’s the God who invades the dirt. 

Deserts. Stables. Mangers.

Offices. Friendships. Families.

This Christmas, I’m inviting God to invade my dirt…

i have a confession to make. i’m not very patient. i hate waiting for things. maybe its cos i’m male but waiting just doesn’t seem to be in my nature, though I’m trying to work on that a bit!

anyway, there was this time a few years when my beloved Northern Ireland hadn’t scored a goal in almost 3 years. it was torture. leaving every game for 2 and a half years with the words “Northern Ireland nil” firmly lodged in your head. we actually broke the world record for the longest time never to score a goal. we still hold that record today!

i suppose that’s why the concept of advent has always been strange to me. waiting on God to arrive. it’s so foreign to me.

but recently I’ve been coming to appreciate the beauty of waiting. the joy of something or someone coming after hours, days, weeks, years of waiting for it. After a period of waiting, appreciation levels tend to have increased and excitement is greater.
 

i suppose that was true after not seeing northern ireland score for 3 years. before every game we optimistically whispered longings of “maybe this is the night we’ll get a goal.” we didn’t want to win. we didn’t care if we conceded 10. just as long as we scored.

and so the year is 2004 and we’ve just beaten the world record and are 3-0 down against norway. times are hard. and up pops sir david to put the ball in the back of the net and the crowds goes ballistic. finally we’ve scored. finally we’ve seen a goal. and for those who kept following the team in those dreadful 3 years, the good times now seem even sweeter. we now appreciate the small things more. we’re thankful for even a goal.
 

and after 400 years of God being completely silent, He finally speaks. He finally comes close. He finally draws near. He finally fulfils the prophecies. He shouts, the waiting is finally over. I Am is here.

I’ve spent a lot of time leading worship in different churches and events, and often people have come up to me afterwards and used encouraging phrases such as “I sensed a real anointing of God upon the music this evening” or “That was anointed worship tonight.”

All these words have always been very uplifting and encouraging to me, as well as appreciated. There are even times I believe them to be true. Not because I thought it was amazing, but because I know that’s how God works. Placing His hand upon things that are very ordinary, and using those who are weak.

However, one of my best mates is a joiner and as far as I know he has never had anyone tell him of how his woodwork is ‘anointed’ by God, or how he has a real sense of anointing over his career. Or have you ever heard of an anointed businessman? Or teacher?

Why not? Is God more interested in music than woodwork? (Not if the career of Jesus is anything to go by anyway!!) Does God just come down and touch the lives and work of those in full time ministry? Or those at the front? Or can He really anoint, touch and bless those every day jobs?

Step forward Bezalel – the Bible’s first anointed joiner:

“I have filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God and have given him the skill, ability and knowledge to do all kinds of work. He is able to design pieces to be made from gold, silver and bronze, to cut jewels and put them in metal, to carve wood, and to do all kinds of work.” Exodus 31

I love the thought of God anointing craftsmen and builders and joiners. And musicians and artists and dancers. And teachers and leaders and businessmen. I have this image of God literally breathing His Spirit into people to provide them with the necessary skill, ability and knowledge to do their work. And not just do it, but do it with excellence.

I heard someone say on Saturday night that the church was the most creative place on earth 200 years ago. Where has that gone to? Can we recover this?

But in the meantime, this Christmas time I just want to take time to applaud the anointed teachers, office workers, dinner ladies, joiners and designers in the church…

sarah inspired me to blog about this!

i’ve been speaking about a guy called rick hoyt a couple of times over the last few months. referred to it at mannafest on saturday night, making the comparison between the helpless child who can’t do it on his own, needing the help, strength, support and sacrifice of his father. sounds familiar to me…

watch this video…just a phenomenal story that has so much to say on every level!

i think ricky hatton is one of my favourite sportsmen at the minute. which is a ridiculous thing for me to say because i’ve got so many!!

so we bought the fight last night, invited a load of guys around, ordered in some pizza and stayed up until after 4am to watch the big fight.

ricky was well beaten by a better opponent but he gave a decent enough performance. however his attitude was fantastic. humble as ever, cracking the jokes and determined to keep going. sadly the same can’t be said for mayweather!

despite the result, it was a great fight to watch, and a really great way to wind down after speaking at mannafest in belfast last night. it was a real privilege to get to share to so many young people at an event that meant so much to me as a teenager. really enjoyed doing it…

my housemate Kyler just told me something he read today. he says that apparantly Bethlehem only had around 150 residents at the time Jesus was born! i mean, that’s the amount of people live in my estate!! ridiculously small.

the word ‘close’ has really grabbed hold of me over the past few days. as thoughts inevitably get turned towards Christmas it has really struck me like never before how phenomenal and incredible it is that Almighty, all-powerful God, Creator, Holy God came close at the first Christmas.

the God who hid behind the burning bush that forced moses to take off his shoes. the God whose face couldn’t be looked at directly and came to Sinai in a cloud. the God who could only be met behind the curtain by one man offering a blood sacrifice once a year. the God whose eyes are like fire and feet like bronze. the God who breathed stars 300,000 times earth into existence with just a sentence.

this God came close. he arrived in the neighbourhood. he wore clothes. his feet got dirty. he carved wood that He had called into being thousands of years earlier. he hung out with fishermen and fraudmen. he stopped with the outcast and oppressed.

that’s how close He came. and that’s how close He still comes today. God invaded earth. and He still does today.

this Christmas, more than anything, i want to experience more of this closeness in everything i do as the extraordinary continues to brush closely with the ordinary. as the miraculous stoops to rub shoulders with the mundane.

i’m so thankful that God came close. and that He still does today.

“there are so few words that never grow old”……………..that’s a lyric that caught hold of me. it’s from the brand new album from the Dave Crowder*Band called “Remedy.” i bought it last week and i’m just loving it. so creative, rich and deep. definitely the best album i’ve bought this year!

you impressed with me kate?!!