Mission21 final reflections

If you have been following this blog you will know that the organisers of a Church Planting Conference this week invited us to blog or twitter on the event. Here's my overall reflection.

I met some wonderful people for the first time and met up with other wonderful people I haven't seen for some time. The four main sessions were very well prepared (apart from one where someone had to stand in at the last moment). All gave us much to think about as well as being challenging and inspiring.

I was part of a small group looking at Cross Cultural Church Planting. After the first session I wasn't sure how much value these would prove to be but by the end of the conference I think that these highly interactive sessions stimulated helpful thinking. For me there was little that was new (after all I have been relating to church planting since 1966!) but it helped me focus on some important issues.

The one hour given for specialist topics, where I led a session on rural church planting, was rather frustrating as far as I am concerned. I could have used the time more effectively I think. However, most of those attending commented that it was helpful But it could have been more helpful if I had not felt so limited in time.

I was very glad to be there. They worked us hard - days started at 9.00 and ended twelve hours later. It was well planned (apart from the one hour only specialist time) and deserving of twice the number attending. Would I do it again? YOU BET!

Mission21 Day 2 Rural Focus

We discovered something very interesting today. I was leading a specialist session on church planting in rural areas. As part of this I spoke of a project where a small church plant in Cumbria has inspired the whole village to engage in a mission project in Congo. Now they have more people wanting to go to Congo - despite danger and hardship - than they have room for. They are busy fundraising as a community and have recently had a special day that was featured on regional TV!!!

As soon as I mentioned this I discovered two others in our small gathering at the conference group who were also running with similar schemes.

I believe that this could be a process by which people can find their way to a personal relationship with Christ. I think that this is a "programme" worth exploring.
Any comments?

Church Planting Conference - Unconditional acts of service

Here's an interesting argument we had today in our "stream". It related to the debate on social action. I stated that I could not recall a single time when Jesus responded to a need conditionally.

Our stream leader seemed to think that if Jesus never made a condition before he always made one afterwards! Of course I think I'm right! The question is whether we engage in good works ONLY if we offer our service with a slice of gospel proclamation. I'm all for passing on the gospel message but I am unhappy about insisting that acts of genuine love must only be undertaken on condition that we can share the story.

Any comments?

Church Planting Conference Day 1

I'm attending the Mission21 Conference in Bath for three days this week and have just finished day 1 (running 14.00 to 21.00 with a 2 hour break for evening meal). Its a mixed bunch of people drawn from all kinds of churches and I hope I will be able to learn from those from other traditions and those who are working in other contexts that "rural" (my area of expertise).

As part of this programme we are spending much of the time in "Streams" and I opted for "Cross Cultural Church Planting". My thinking was that most villages are microcosms of multi culturalism, but I suspect we will steadily see people from ethnic minorities moving into British villages in increasing numbers so we need the debate.

Much time in our evening session revolved around how we might measure "success" and that led to a debate on churches that are genuinely agencies for transformation because of social action engagement. The group leader placed his emphasis on numerical growth through conversions. I found myself sitting in the middle but I'd be grateful for some comments on the following please:

In 1Peter 3:15 we read "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect," and it was suggested that if we live Christian lives marked by appropriate good deeds people will ask us about our faith. My concern about this is that most rural Christians do live lives of loving service to others, but I am yet to hear of a single instance in a rural context where this has led to anyone asking "for the reason for the hope". It seems to me that people expect us to be nice and helpful but I'm not sure how often this leads to anyone then asking us to explain the gospel.

So if any reader can enlighten me otherwise - and remember it has to be a rural context - I would be delighted to hear from you. Meanhile, I'm off to bed!

The Al-Megrahi Controversy

I want to start this post by stating that I applaud the decision taken by Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary for Scotland. Of course the welcome back to Libya was wholly inappropriate and distasteful but that should not influence our view of the stand taken. When we act in a morally appropriate way we can have no control over how someone else might respond but that should never be a determining factor. When we are asked to turn the other cheek it is with the expectation of an inappropriate response. But that is how we are asked to act.

When we put someone into prison we do it for a number of reasons. Let's consider these.

We do so in order to keep safe those who might otherwise come to harm if the person was not incarcerated. Mr Al-Megrahi no longer poses a threat so that criteria is now irrelevant.

We do so to make a statement to the public that crime does not pay. He remains a guilty and sentenced man, but as has been pointed out a now higher sentence has been passed and that is irrevocable. So that criteria continues and is inescapable.

We do so as a punishment imposed upon the criminal. The immediately previous sentence addresses the core issue. The sentence he now awaits supersedes anything prison would do to him.

Finally, we do so in the hope of rehabilitation and remedial influence. Well, it's far too late in his case. So that too is irrelevant.

On all moral grounds for incarcerating anyone for a crime there is now clearly no justification for his spending the relatively last few days in a Scottish prison. Long ago we exercised the "lock them up and throw away the key" or the "leave them to rot" attitude. But we have grown up a little since then. No matter how great our anger or bitterness might be regarding what happened in the skies above Lockerbie, and the ongoing suffering of those who lost so much, that is no justification for acting inhumanly.

The prophet Micah asked a question, "What does the Lord require of us?" The answer is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

The commendable thing about the proper outcome of the legal situation in Scotland is that the compassion and mercy reflects the values of the Kingdom of God. He is not excused for what he has done. The tragedy is that other nations, less influenced by the values that come from faith, might well have taken a different view.

If you share my opinion then I hope that you will take opportunity to explain to others why. Where would we all stand if the righteous judgement of ourselves was not tempered with mercy?

Is the Bible less significant

A friend of mine lent me a book he has written lamenting what he sees as a loss of respect for and personal use of the Bible in the lives of Christians today. He is writing, of course from an English perspective. I found myself largely in sympathy with much that he had written. The following comes from mt letter on returning the book.

Recently I heard it suggested that the emphasis on “professional ministry” had led to the decline in scripture knowledge and I think that might be partly true but it is far from the whole truth. I would blame the emphasis on professional ministry for disabling Christians generally but that is another matter.

Like many my age I grew up with the benefit of a structured Sunday School where the Bible was taught. In that hall there was a slogan left by a visiting missionary. It stated “Find a time and a place to pray, and read your Bible every day”. I was also made to take the annual Sunday School Union Scripture Examination and we were drilled on this for several weeks. Consequently before I became a committed Christian I had a good knowledge of what the Bible was about, how it was compiled, the main characters etc. It was like having been to Bible College!

Today we have what I consider generally the benefit of having various versions of the scriptures. The aim has been to make the Bible more accessible. While to some extent that aim has succeeded it has not obviously led to a general increase in personal Bible study, which is where I would like to see greater emphasis. There are some great exceptions and I am always delighted when I see teenagers carrying Bibles to church – often where the adults do not do so.

I feel that there are probably three areas of weakness:

The first of these is the loss of the “family alter”. There is nothing like being introduced to the great stories of scripture from an early age.

The second is a weakness within many theological and Bible colleges, where, it seems, the values of scripture reading (public and private) seems not to have a high profile. If students learned how to engage with the scriptures in a dynamic way during the time of their training they would bring that into their ministry.

The third is in the area of public worship. Here I would place the blame not so much on the absence or limits of scripture reading, but more on the way that it is done. In most churches that I go to it sounds boring. Saying either before or afterwards anything about hearing the Word of God will do little if it is not then communicated appropriately. Even in evangelical churches I have heard the Bible read as if reading from a text book or a car manual. Boring!

Much that is in the Bible is drama but that is so often lost. So I would urge having sessions where people learn to read the scriptures with more expression, with pauses, and appropriate emphasis. A ministry colleague of mine always ensures that when she reads the Bible she makes it live. She has sometimes done this by creating a dialogue, or by allowing someone (prepared) to make interjections or ask questions. It really makes people sit up and listen.

Other good ideas include ensuring that other elements in a service complement the scripture readings, or by providing some way of “spotlighting” the scripture reading to aid that focus to what it actually said. Reading the gospel from within the congregation and having everyone stand to listen can be useful, but not so much when done every Sunday, as it then becomes too familiar. I rather like the custom of a URC minister known to me who concludes the Bible reading by holding the book aloft and towards the congregation and saying, “The Word of God for the People of God”, to which the congregation is expected to respond, “Thanks be to God”.

In conclusion I return to the issue of personal Bible reading through the week. I think we could come up with more creative ways of encouraging this. On a purely personal level I have found using hymns and worship songs and scripture together to be helpful. Sometimes I sit and read through a hymn carefully and thoughtfully and then turn to the scriptures it brings to mind. Sometimes the scriptures then bring another hymn to mind, and so we go on. This is very much akin to Brethren and earlier Pentecostal morning meetings.

And a PS would be to remind myself that if I expect others to be inspired to read God’s Word and be blessed by it then I must ensure that my own experience is a good one and that my life is being informed and excited by reading God’s precious word.

Any one of them could have done it

Any one of them could have done it. It needed to be done and the resources were all there. It wasn’t as if it called for special skills. It wasn’t as if the task was especially difficult. And it wasn’t as if any of them had anything more important to do just at that moment.

Of course, that phrase, “Anything more important” is an interesting one. What is it that makes one task more important than another? What determines “importance”? Surely it has to do with what is needed rather than those tasks that draw attention to the person undertaking them, or those tasks that can only be done by a few with special ability or experience.

Take, for instance, that time in Jerusalem when they had walked through the area surrounding the pool where all the sick and infirmed lay hoping to be the first to get into the water when it was mysteriously stirred, and hoping that by doing so they would find their healing. What was important there was getting into that pool as quickly as you could. And the words of that man that day had been pitiful: “Sir, I have no one to help me”. For 38 years he had been crippled and for much of that time he had waited in hope that he might manage to get into the pool in time. All he needed was a friend.

Yes, what is important depends on what is actually needed at the time. It might not seem that important to others, of course. It might not bring any status or fame. But if there’s a need to be met, and especially if it a matter of urgency….

38 years waiting for a friend to turn up!

Anyone could have done it. All the resources were there just waiting for someone to take advantage of them. Everything that was needed was right there all the time staring them in the face. And no one had taken them up.

Of course if someone had been specifically asked to do it then he might have been willing to do it, but no one was actually asked. It just needed to be done and any one of them could have done it.

One way of dealing with it might have been to have introduced more organisation into the situation. To have planned things better. To have had a rota for such tasks. That way the work could have been shared between them. They could have worked out their different strengths and weaknesses, explored their skill portfolios and worked out who would be the most appropriate for the task. After all that’s the way to get things done isn’t it?

But on this occasion it was something that any of them could have done. The resources were there. All that was needed was someone to get up and do it. And, frankly, it wasn’t as if they had anything more important to do just at that time. There’s that word “important” again. They had been discussing that subject – “Who was the most important?”

That was when he got up. They did not notice at first. Then they saw him take off his outer garment. As he wrapped the towel around his waist they all fell silent. And in that silence the sound of water being poured into the basin seemed amplified. And one by one he lifted the dusty feet of the others that were there and gently – washed them.

Any one of them could have done it – but HE did it. It wasn’t his task but he did it. Unasked, he saw the need and did something about it. Wasn’t that always the way with him? But this – washing feet – that was a task for a servant not a leader.

And one by one as they felt his gentle hands apply the water and the towel they knew. They knew that any one of them COULD have done it.

And after that evening - and after the events of the following days - they began to understand what it meant and what it would mean to “follow him”. What he meant when he said once, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Any one of them could have done it.

Get Me Out of Here!

A recent incident caused me to remember a piece of good advice I was once given: "What you pray yourself into you do not normally have to pray yourself out of!" The incident was almost getting my car stuck in a river!

My satellite navigation system (Navman F20) has served me very well - until today. I was travelling from Harrogate to a Yorkshire village called Harden. The journey had already taken longer than the time that friends had suggested and we should have been at our destination (the church) five minute ago when the voice from the navigation system instructed me to turn left. I checked the diagram on the screen and there was no doubt I was to take the turn immediately before the river. I turned and the satellite system confirmed that was the correct turning. But a few yards further on and what was a road turned into a very narrow single track lane with high walls on either side. Again the screen illustrated that we were perfectly on track.

Moments later I braked to a halt a few feet from a shallow river with the lane we were travelling on clearly continuing from the far side. There was nowhere to turn but two young men and a dog were handy and assured my passengers and me that provided we could get across the water we were on course for Harden.

So, always up for a challenge, and having come such a long way down this narrow lane, and being already late, I decided to have a go. The first half was OK but then the bow wave (I really wasn't going fast!) washed over the bonnet, something clonked underneath and the car refused to mount the extremely steep exit from the river. I tried again but frankly I knew that a 14 year old Vauxhall Astra is not designed to move from the horizontal to the almost vertical without at least some kind of a run at it!

There was nothing for it but to either do a three point turn in the river or reverse. The latter seemed to be the best solution. I had kept the revs high in the hope of avoiding water up the exhaust pipe but backing was bound to be a challenge both to the engine and my driving skills.

Moments later we were out of the river and up the steep incline we had previously driven down, though now a large amount of steam was billowing from under the bonnet (did I say this car is not diesel which made the exercise all the more dodgy!).

Happily a few more yards of reversing with the stone walls of the lane mere inches from either side and I was able to turn in the driveway of a house. Annoyingly, as we emerged from the lane at the far end my satellite system immediately offered an alternative route and we turned up at church 15 minutes late.

As we drove out of the lane I was reflecting on how amazing it was that we had got into and out of a mess without any apparent damage, with the engine still running perfectly and without the passengers becoming hysterical. It was then that Janet murmured from the back seat, "Well I was praying rather hard".

Later today I recalled that I had deliberately - and possibly carelessly - programmed the navigation system to include rough lanes. If only!

Of course it could have been a different story and we might have all got wet feet and worse. A little more care in venturing forward would have been wise. We can be so easily and confidently led down a path into problems where more care earlier would avoid it. Or as my friend so wisely said, "What you pray yourself into you do not normally have to pray yourself out of"!

What is the Main Purpose of a Church?

"The main purpose of a church is not worship" was the rather sweeping statement I made recently at a gathering on eleven churches in the Midlands. Afterwards someone described this as “putting the cat among the pigeons”. I suggested instead that evangelism was the main purpose of the church; a subject known to ruffle a few feathers. Was my assertion wrong?

When one asks a question about the main purpose of a church, people seem to drag up from their memories something that comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism of 1647 which states, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever”. Even though the use of this catechism is not something common to all Christian traditions it is often quoted and we all tend to pick up on it. But those who are familiar with the catechism know that this is only the first of 107 points. The remaining 106 points largely qualify what is meant by the first.

The second emphasises the importance of scripture, and the third emphasises the importance of obedience to its teachings. Thus it implies that to glorify God means to live in harmony with God’s character and his purposes as revealed in scripture.

At the end of his ministry Jesus left behind a band of disciples whom he tasked with the duty to be his witnesses, to take the gospel throughout the world, and to make disciples among all nations (or peoples). He made it clear that in his agenda this was “the main thing”. It is to be hoped that all Christians value the mission of Jesus that brought about his life and ministry on earth, his death and resurrection. Those first disciples had to continue the outworking of that mission, and indeed we in turn have to today.

But for many Christians we have substituted other things for that mission such as attending worship services and maintaining ecclesial systems and buildings. No matter how laudable these things may be the main thing is to ensure that the main thing remains the main thing.

King Saul’s excuse for his disobedience was his desire to offer worship to God (1 Samuel 15:15). But the prophet’s response was “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” Psalm 51 also emphasises the worthlessness of worship from a life that fails to be in line with God’s expectations. The prophecy of Malachi seems to be God’s disappointment in a people who go through the motions of worship but have compromised on obedience.

To these examples from the Hebrew Scriptures we could draw on what we often call the Lord’s Prayer. The first aspiration is for the Lord’s name to be hallowed, but we cannot divorce that from the following petitions relating to the coming of God’s kingdom and obedience to his will.

I find myself wondering what God thinks about our offerings of prayers and hymns and worship when we live in disobedience whether by deliberate acts or simple neglect. Just what value does God place on worship that is unsupported by genuine discipleship?

Pentecost is not a Birthday Party

While I suspect that in some ways I might have become a little bit of a “grumpy old man” I believe that there are a few things where popular teaching in churches has strayed from what the Bible actual says, and where it is important that we take care not to mix fancy with the truth.

Recently I wrote to a major, well known educational body that is promoting a children’s teaching programme on Pentecost as a party to celebrate the birthday of the church. I politely pointed out that this is not only an error but that by doing so we are in danger of trivialising the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The reply I received saddened me immensely. Instead of either agreeing or seeking to refute the theological and biblical argument from scripture, they merely quoted other contemporary sources that also refer to Pentecost as the “Birthday of the Church”. What are we to do when major Christian educational bodies rely on popular opinion rather than careful biblical interpretation?

My concern is not just about whether or not there is such a thing as the birthday of the Church and if so when it took place. I am concerned that we grasp the significance of Pentecost and earnestly seek the person and power of the Holy Spirit so that we might faithfully and effectively witness to Jesus Christ in the world of which we are a part today. I am desperate for the winning of men and women for Christ and to see God’s kingdom of peace and justice advance. To that end I believe that we need to be far more serious (but certainly not miserable) about what and how we believe.

Pentecost is, of course, a Jewish festival related to harvest time. Jesus had told his disciples that they needed to wait in Jerusalem until they received the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that would enable them to start out on this incredible journey of witnessing to Christ throughout the world. That empowerment first happened on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and a new kind of harvest was celebrated that day. The book of Acts then records several other occasions when churches and individuals also experienced their own “Day of Pentecost”. It also reveals the need for an ongoing experience of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We are living at a time when we need a genuine and profound revival. My Christian awakening began at a time just prior to the beginnings of the charismatic movement. At that time I met people for whom a Pentecostal experience would mean exclusion from mainstream denominations. These were people who were passionate about the gospel and full of praise to God. Their meetings were marked with an almost tangible sense of God’s presence and conversions to Christ were common. In one church I delivered two young colleagues to lead a Sunday School meeting and arrived to find well over 50 young children who had met for prayer half an hour before Sunday School began! As I opened the door you could feel the wind of the Holy Spirit.

We need His presence like that today; not an excuse for balloons and party poppers in church. We need to be teaching why the Day of Pentecost was important then and relevant now. Please take care in your church this Pentecost not to trivialise something so precious.

Seeing is believing

An Easter reflection. One of the interesting things revealed through the Easter stories in scripture is how personal faith develops as the story unfolds and the facts become clear. The reason this is important in my view is that it teaches us something we need to grasp about faith.

For many people, faith is an issue of the intellect. It is for this reason that some struggle with some of the amazing stories in scripture that go beyond what is humanly possible. They therefore get stuck because they cannot believe it.

For Mary, and probably the other women that morning, the logical explanation for the empty tomb was that someone had come in the night and stolen the body. But even as she grieved about her loss, hearing his voice and holding onto him led to believing.

For Peter and John the testimony of the women was not enough and they ran to the tomb to check it out for themselves. Peter saw the empty tomb and was overwhelmed by what appeared a tragedy, but something about the evidence of the grave cloths enabled John to believe Jesus was alive.

The two walking to Emmaus came to believe partly through what they saw but also because of the conversation that had made their hearts burn within them. In some ways, faith came by hearing scripture.

Thomas wanted the experience of seeing and touching the wounds before he could believe, but confronted with the person of the risen Jesus he fell to his knees and confessed that Jesus was in fact God.

For all these people some kind of engagement preceded their ability to believe. For me back in 1962 it was an invitation to “try out” the invitation to engage with Christ that really started my faith journey. The writer to the Hebrews states that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. While I know that to be true, it seems to me that for most, if not all of us, there needs to be some kind of evidence. That might be seeing or hearing what God has done in the life of someone whose testimony we are inclined to believe. That brings a challenge to Christians.

A story about someone coming alive again after so public and undeniable a death will never be grasped intellectually unless, like those early disciples, we too have engaged with the person of the risen Saviour. He does not invite us to believe on nothing. The invitation to us is to open up our lives, to invite him into our lives so that we might experience the reality of his love and forgiveness and all that comes in with that.

In the moment that we respond to that invitation most people do not immediately experience anything dramatic, though some do. It is in keeping the door open to him that lives begin to be changed and faith grows in the light of experience.

Today, wounded hands reach out as Jesus repeats, “Whoever comes to me I will never turn away”.

Does God get confused?

A friend of mine in France wrote recently, "I trust that this year will be a time when you ... will experience the Lord's presence and enabling in every situation. That seems to me much more realistic than simply writing "blessing", which often seems to me a word which is so vague no-one knows precisely what it means".

I agree totally with his comment and have often wondered what God does when we vaguely pray for his blessing on a person or on a particular meeting.I have wondered whether he ever ponders upon what exactly we might want him to do. Or perhaps he has a list of possible blessings in mind and pulls out one at random. Actually, to be honest, most times I think the request is so unspecific that that is precisely what we get as an answer- something unspecific!

Take a church service or meeting as an example. What would happen if instead of asking God to "bless our meeting" we asked God to so speak into our meeting that our lives will be transformed by the experience, or that Mrs Smith will finally open her heart to Jesus, or that the youth will dedicate the rest of their lives to God's service, or that Mr. Jones persistent cough will be healed?

Are millions of Christians missing out in prayer simply because we are to vague in what we pray for? I suspect we are.

Credit Crunch 2450 years ago

It is often said that there is nothing new under the sun. I was intrigued to notice an event recorded in the Bible very similar to today's financial crisis. It is also interesting what they did about it.

The story can be tread in Nehemiah chapter 5. Nehemiah was a pretty single minded person focused sharply on the task in hand (rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem). It seemed that nothing could distract him. He had enemies who wanted him to fail. They tried threats, slander, and all manner of things but Nehemiah would not be distracted. That is until he heard about a financial crisis that was hurting some people acutely.

Because of a food shortage prices were ridiculously high as people sought to profit out of this opportunity. Consequently as ready cash ran out people had no alternative than to mortgage their homes and any land they had. But that only increased the debts and on top of that there were taxes that had to be paid to the Persian Empire at that time. But there were people then willing to lend money to people already saddled with debt. But interest rates charged by those exploiting the needy were disturbing, and the debt spiral just got worse. The only remaining remedy was to sell members of the family into a form of slavery in lieu of repayments and just to make ends meet.

It all sounds strangely familiar with recent events where countries have run on a debt economy and banks have sold "solutions" to the poor that only exacerbated the problems. How did Nehemiah deal with this?

Firstly he made dealing with the injustice and delivering people from the poverty trap his number one target.

Secondly, he addressed those who were exploiting the situation to satisfy their own greed, and so he put a stop to it.

Thirdly, he cancelled his own "bonus" entitlement. This was also a fiscal strategy that would have lightened the taxation burden.

The he ensured that people could be fed by opening up his own home each day ton 150 people and ensuring that they could have a decent meal. In other words he set a personal example of generosity.

It is sure that the global financial problems are unlikely to be solved without the adoption of similar renunciation of greed, the condemnation of those who exploit, and the exercise of generosity. The fact that the problem has become global just emphasises that the price of greed is the impoverishing of others, and that what goes around comes around.

SPACE AMONG THE CLUTTER

Those who know me well know that I can be exsparating, but I also exasparate myself. This is particularly true when it comes to the room in my home that serves as my office. The desk is littered with papers and there are several piles of papers on the floor. So you will imagine that from time to time important items seem to disappear and – worse still – might even get overlooked. This could include a cheque that should have been banked, a letter that should have been acknowledged, or a form that should have been sent off.

Of course, I know the solution and I have promised myself that each day I will endeavour to put away (or throw away) more items than the number I add daily to the piles. But, frankly, I’m not too sure that I will succeed in keeping that promise, even though I know full well the value of doing so.

Of course, some who read this will take comfort as they too have cluttered homes. But the real reason I am baring my soul to you is that far too many of us have lives so cluttered with unimportant things that there is no space to find the things that really matter. Sadly some of these will remain overlooked and neglected among the piles of lesser things or even among the rubbish of life.

But what might these more important things be whose cry for attention is stifled by the trivial? It might be the giving of quality time to family members, friends and neighbours. It might be the need to express our appreciation for the gift that is themselves as part of our lives. It will almost certainly be the need to give God a chance to speak into our lives and to respond to his wisdom.

Occasionally I find among the papers that clutter my desk something that I wish with all my heart that I had responded to long before. But I hope that I will never regret overlooking time with God among the things that clutter my life.

Imagine the emotions of turning up on judgement day only to discover that you left, ignored among the clutter of your life, God's gracious invitation to sort out your life.