The Way, the truth and the life

It was a beautiful day, in mid-October. The autumn had been amazing. There hadn't been much rain and the days had been sunny, with a crisp chill in the air, keeping the leaves crunchy. The trees were ablaze of colours, like fire. The countryside looked amazing, the arching trees, rolling fields of green and yellow and the leaves lightly gliding down to the earth, like golden confetti.
We were on our way to Tumbridge, the sky was blue and the sun was shinning and at one point, the morning sun's rays, shown through the golden branches of the trees and shines through the mist. Then Lewis pipes up, 'When I see the sun like that it reminds me of God!'

It was Saturday morning and we were trying to get to Tumbridge in a transit van and I had stupidly said, 'We should take the back way, it was quicker last time I went.'

Well... well done Clare, because just after we had been admiring the scenery, sunlight and colours of the autumn trees, Jane said, 'I feel like we are going round in circles. I think we went the wrong way at that roundabout.'

Tip no.1: Do not trust Satnavs-they do not recognise newish (built in the last 5 years) and then you get completely lost!
But the main point of this story(which is true) is that sometimes the journey is wonderful, beautiful and comfortable. Sometimes you can be enjoying the journey and think your going the right way. When sometimes you are actually completely lost and you never realised it.

I guess sometimes is it easy to forget the way and get lost, we do it all the time, in so many different ways. Physically lost, emotionally lost, financially lost (especially at this moment in time with the economic crisis) and the most hard to realise when you have got lost, spiritually lost.

A little girl got lost in a shopping centre and her parents were frantic. They were so worried about her. They decided the best way to proceed and find her was for the mum to go one way and the dad to go the other way. So off they went.
When the dad saw his daughter from across the centre, he stood back and observed her. She was standing outside a sweet shop, looking longingly at the sweets in the shop window. His daughter did not look distraught, she did not look like how children normally look when they are lost. In fact the girl hadn't even realised that she was lost. She was perfectly contented where she was.
So she didn't realise and see that her father had come back to get her.

Sometimes when we are lost or have taken the wrong turning we don't realise we are lost and we don't realise that our Father has come to find us.
When we were all lost- our Father had to find us, so He sent Jesus to be our guide, to be our satnav, the ultimate satnav that doesn't go wrong, to be the way.

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” John 14:6-7

This is one of the most important passages in the Bible- that Jesus is the way! How can we know the way to God? Only through Jesus!
Jesus is the way because He is both God and man. By uniting our lives with His, we are uniting with God.
Jesus is the ONLY way to God the Father, some people may argue that it is too narrow for everyone one to get through, a bit like a tiny country lane that two cars cannot pass down. However it is wide- so wide, wide enough for the world to pass don and unite with God! Jesus is not a tiny country lane-instead He is a motorway, wide enough for everyone and for everyone to travel at their own pace.
Do not worry that The Way is limited, God has provided us with a way- Jesus and we should be thanking God for providing us with a way.

Together we cry!

Together we cry...
Together we cry…
Jenny was poor girl living in a rich world
Named her baby hope when he was just fourteen
She was hoping for a better world for this little girl
But the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree
Well she gets that call hope’s too far gone

Her baby’s on the way but nothing left inside

Together we cry!

What about the junk head could have gone the whole way

Lighting up the stage trying to get a deal

Now he’s lighting up the wrong way“something for the pain!”

Man you wanna see this kid he was so fuckin’ unreal

When he gets that call he’s too far gone

To get it together to sing one song hey won’t hear tonight

The words of a lullaby

Together we cry…

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Together we cry…

Together we cry…

Oh we cry we cry we cry

Together we cry.

Oh oh…Oh…

Mary’s ambitious she wanna to be a politician

She been dreaming about it since she was a girl

She thought that she’d be the one to change the world

Always trying to pave the way for a woman in a… man’s world

Life happened, house, kids, 2 cars, husband hits the jar,

Cheques that don’t go very far now

Now she in it can’t change it, she keeps her mind on her wages

The only rattling cages!

Ohhh…Together we cry

Together we cry

There’s so much sad wanna flood the ocean

We're all in tears from the world is broken

Together we cry.

There comes a time when every bird has to fly

At some point every rose has to die

It’s hard to let your children go home

Where they go?

Who knows!

Getting drunk

Getting stoned All alone

Teach a man to fish

You’ll feed him never lie

You show your kids the truth hope they never lie

Instead of reading in a letter that they’ve gone to something better

“Bet your sorry now! I won’t be coming home tonight”

I’m sick of looking for those heroes in the sky

To teach us how to fly

Together we cry

Together we cry…

Together we cry…

So much sad wanna flood the ocean

We're all in tears from the world is broken

Together we cry…

Oh…Yeah…

Together we cry, cry…

Together we cry

This world is broken and this song seems to show no hope for it ever being fixed. I decided to share this song with you,a ll of it, sware words and all, because I believe that we all know people with stories like these.

What do we do when we here these stories? What do we do when we know these people? What do we do when we watch the news or read the newspaper and hear time after time about murder, suiside, broken families, broken people, war, crime, illness, debt?
What is our reaction to evil and brokeness?

I know that it can sometimes be so easy to just sit back, especially if its the news and just let it wash over us. Sometimes it can seem as if we have become desensitised and forget that we should be weeping for this world full of brokeness.

When we come face to face to these people do we become holier than thou or do we have mercy and compassion on people that are desperate for love.

In a world that is so broken as this, it needs Jesus even more than before. Jesus can be here through us, we are His hands and feet. We are His eyes and His ears. We are His representatives on this world.

We should be on our hands and knees crying out to God to save these people, to save this broken world, because though we sow in sorrow, we will harvest in joy!

There may not be much hope left in the world,

but when hope is lost,

it can always be found again!

Do not lose hope that this world will one day be fixed

So let this be our prayer:

And now, God, do it again—

bring rains to our drought-stricken lives

So those who planted their crops in despair

will shout hurrahs at the harvest,

So those who went off with heavy hearts

will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.

Psalm 126:5 (The Message)

I want, I want...

"I want, I want!", "That's mine", "I want!" Its all I hear from the begging, screaming children (and many adults) in the supermarket.

Why is it that we always want what we can't have, what we can't afford and what everyone else has got?

Why do we allow ourselves to feel jealousy and even act upon that green-eyed monster? Even when we know that the other person deserves the object, time, person or even praise. When we know we should feel happy for them and yet instead we feel the pangs of jealousy spring up within our souls.

I will be honest here, I can be and have been a very jealous person!

I was at a wedding the other week, where my best friend from school was getting married. Not the best place to be when your single, all the couples sitting together etc...

As the music starts and she walks down the isle, as well as feeling so happy for her, I felt jealousy creep up inside of me, wishing it was me getting married (not to her husband to be though). However realising and recognising this feeling allowed me to let go and have fun and just be really happy and pleased for her.

Sometimes we need to recognise the things we want and realise that it isn't ever about what we want but what we need. And that is God gives us!

He provides us with everything.... everything we need!

As all good mothers say "I want never gets!"

But "I need" does!

I asked for strength that I might achieve;

I was made weak that I might obey.

I asked for health that I might do greater things;

I was given grace that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy;

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I had asked for,but everything that I had hoped for.

My prayer was answered, I was most blessed.

Unknown Confederate soldier

Sometimes we need to realise that all the things we feel jealous of will not bring us enjoyment of life, but only Life from God that we can enjoy all things.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (New International Version)

If only I gave my all...

"...a beggar...sees a golden carriage approaching from afar 'like a gorgeous dream'. Realising that it is the carriage of the King, the beggar prays for riches. This, he believes, is the greatest opportunity of his life.

Sure enough, the carriage stops where the beggar stands and the king climbs out with a smile. But then. the strangest thing happens: the King stretches out His empty hand and asks the beggar, 'What have you to give me?'

Confused and uncertain, the beggar reaches into his bag and takes out a grain of corn- only one, and the smallest. Is this a joke? Slowly, he places it into the King's palm.

At the end of the day, when the beggar empties his bag on the floor, he is surprised to discover a single grain of gold- but only one, and the smallest.

'I bitterly wept,' the beggar said, 'and wished that I had the heart to give my all.'"

(ANON)

Sometimes, we are asked to give something of ourselves, not knowing that if we do, God will pour out His blessings on us a thousand times more.

Mostly I begrudgingly give myself to God, maybe only giving the smallest part of me, my money, time etc... and yet when I do this God still honours His promise and gives back to me.

However sometimes I wonder if 'I had the heart to give my all', how much richer would my life be.

Whether it be myself, my money, my gifts or my time, it is hard to give away what is mine. I may rationalise it by telling myself God deserves it, He deserves everything of me. Which is true as He has brought me back, by His son's death, and I no longer belong to the world but to Him. However as I am human I am selfish and these things are mine and they belong to me. Or do they?

J. John told this story:

"There was a man at an airport and while he was waiting for his flight, the man bought himself a bag of 6 fresh donuts, a newspaper and a coffee. The man sits down at a free table and takes a sip of his coffee, as he does another man asks if he can sit at his table. The man begrudgingly agrees and takes a donut from his bag. He opens his paper and begins to read, as he does the man opposite, takes a donut from his bag and begins to eat it. This annoys the man, so he pulls the bag of donuts closer to him and takes another to eat. The other man takes another donut from his bag. Annoyed even further, the man takes another of his donuts to eat. The other man's flight is called and he leaves the table, saying goodbye and that he could have the last donut. The man is confused, off course he can have the last donut, the are his! When the man's flight is called he reaches down to pick up his suitcase, he sees a bag of donuts. That is when the man realises that the donuts he had eaten were in fact not his but the other man and that he had left his donuts on his suitcase.'

Sometimes we can get the wrong idea and think that everything belongs to us, when in fact everything does not.

It all belongs to God!

"But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light."

1 Peter 2:9

Just then he looked up and saw the rich people dropping offerings in the collection plate. Then he saw a poor widow put in two pennies. He said, "The plain truth is that this widow has given by far the largest offering today. All these others made offerings that they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford—she gave her all!"

Luke 21:1-4 (The message)

We are fools to believe that God belongs to us, When actually its that we belong to Him!

Lets give our all!

Sit Idly by while the heedless millions die!

"As I looked out of the window, I seemed to see them all... millions of people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing and their music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles. Ignorant- willfully ignorant in many cases- and in other instances knowing all about the truth and not caring at all."

William Booth

(founder of the Salvation Army)

As Christians, people who have accepted Jesus as the King and saviour and are forgiven from sin, we have a duty, a calling, a final commandment from Jesus Himself to tell the Good News, spread the word, love the unlovable and find the lost!

William Booth saw what was happening in the world. People may believe that the world is a better place then the time that William Booth saw this, but the world is still full of lying politicians, longing for power, still full of people oppressing one another, still full of sorrow and suffering, addictions and more. Today's world is still full of hurting, lost people. It is still full of the people William Booth looked out on and saw a vision for those lost people.

"In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more."

William Booth saw this and saw how much in need of saving our world still is.

"And I saw out of this dark angry ocean, a mighty rock that rose up with it’s summit towering high above the black clouds that overhung the stormy sea. And all around the base of this great rock I saw a vast platform. Onto this platform, I saw with delight a number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches continually climbing out of the angry ocean. And I saw that a few of those who were already safe on the platform were helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the place of safety.On looking more closely I found a number of those who had been rescued, industriously working and scheming by ladders, ropes, boats and other means more effective, to deliver the poor strugglers out of the sea. Here and there were some who actually jumped into the water, regardless of the consequences in their passion to "rescue the perishing." And I hardly know which gladdened me the most- the sight of the poor drowning people climbing onto the rocks reaching a place of safety, or the devotion and self-sacrifice of those whose whole being was wrapped up in the effort for their deliverance.As I looked on, I saw that the occupants of that platform were quite a mixed company. That is, they were divided into different "sets" or classes, and they occupied themselves with different pleasures and employments. But only a very few of them seemed to make it their business to get the people out of the sea."

The thing is do we remember that we were once saved (and still saved and safe) and help with the saving of others still lost, drowning in the sea.

Are you one of those who care so much about those lost, dieing people that you would jump in and risk your life for others?

Could you care enough to sacrifice everything for the Salvation of someone else, someone you love... What about someone you don't?

A call to all Christians out there...

Do you Care? Do you sit 'Idly by while the heedless millions die?'

There's not a star in Heaven that we can't reach!!

Tonight at Kingdom Kids we put on a talent show, organised by our Junior Soldiers, Ben, Chelsea, Rebbecca and Hannah for all the parents, carers, friends and family to raise money for the Annual Appeal. Our aim was £40, but amazingly we raised £102.00!! This will go towards Ashford Salvation Army Christian Centre's aim to raise a total of £6,000 for the annual appeal.
It was an amazing night, full of laughter, fun and joy. So many people turned up in support, which was brilliant.
All the children and young people were fabulous and there talents were brilliant!!

A lot of the children and young people sang songs from High School Musical. High School musical has a really good message about being yourself no matter what others say!

Today those children and young people stood up and did a Talent, something they feel that they are good at. People watched them and they all let them be themselves no matter how bizzarre, strange, good, funny their talent was, They were accepted!

One of the songs from the film is called breaking free, the song talks about trying your best, no matter what the world sees, who they think you are.

'You know the world can see us, in a way that’s different than who we are'

But the song goes on to say that you can be yourself, you can break free from, labeling, peer pressure or prejudice.

'We’re breaking free,

We’re soaring, Flying.

There’s not a star in heaven

That we can’t reach

If we’re trying

Yeah, we’re breaking free'

I really like this song because it is a really nice happy song, but also because it's message is more than what it seems at first.

You know that God says 'I will break you free and we will soar and fly. You can reach Heaven, if you try, with my help!'

'But your faith it gives me strength,

Strength to believe'

God, The Father's faith in me, gives me strength to try and to believe that I can do all He has planned, all He has asked of me... He has the faith and believes that there's not a star in heaven that I can't reach, with Him!

The Kiss of Life

God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!

Genesis 2:7-8 (The Message)

When God created Human Kind, He breathed breath into Adam and Eve and they became alive! God was down on His knees beside His wonderful creation, beautifully made in Him image. He knelt in the dust that He made us from and gave the first kiss of life into Adam. God blew soul and life into Adam.

Every time a child is born, God gets down on His knees and gives them the kiss of life and breathes life into them.

When God the Father, created me and you, He breathed His life giving breath into us, just like the modern day kiss of life... However with the power to create life, which we do not have and we lived. We became beings with a heart that beats, a mind which thinks and a soul which soars.

Since that first kiss of life, we live and grow, sometimes with God and sometimes without Him, our Father who created us individually, to His own plan and sometimes or even most of the time we live the life He gave us without Him.

As we go through this life, in this dark world, we go through many things, some good, family, friendships and some bad, break ups, ill health, loss and hatred. We become addicted to things that harm us, we abuse our bodies, we neglect our souls, we hurt others and ourselves and so much more.

When we live without God, without the breath of God- His Holy Spirit, our guide, our strength, our teacher, companion and friend through this journey of life... when we live without Him, the darkness in this world can consume us. When all the spiritual evils around us slowly kill us (spiritually).

When we are at our lowest, we we feel as if we have nothing left, we our soul and spirit is dead and we realise we need help. God performs the kiss of life on us again and The Holy Spirit creates life in us once again.

Do you need the Kiss of Life today?

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

John 20:21-22 (New Living Translation)