Expectant Preparation

Well I'm just finished my killer week of nights which has left me a bit of an insomniac.....feels like jet lag getting back into routine.

Nights were tough this time. A few daunting experiences but now I have a few days off to chill and to meet up with friends who recharge and inspire me. The best way in my opinion to re imagine.

I was at church twice this Sunday..

My christianometer is off the scale.

The guy speaking was making a lot of sense. I came home and thought a bit about what he said and I have now decided to plagiarise. He was talking about Jehovah Shammah which means "The Lord is Here".

He pointed out that quite often in our lives God's presence is a bit like background noise. We know its there but it can get ignored.

Jehovah Shammah moments are like when the volume is cranked up and we stand back and say undeniably- "God is Here".

I love these moments, I strive on them. Without them I would loose hope in my pursuit, forget, fade.

You see I guess we have no control over the Shammah. God is God.

But we can prepare the way.

As the speaker put it we should "do all that we can to allow him to do what only he can do"

The story of Lazarus was used as an illustration.

Lazarus lay dead in a tomb....hopeless...right?!

But the people were instructed to make a path clear for the Shammah- The revelation of God, the "God is here moment".

The people were instructed to roll the stone away.

At the end of the day what else could they do? Human strength not even a defibrillator of 2008 was raising Lazarus. Not sure if they knew CPR then either.

They did what they could to allow God to do what only he could.

He rose up.

The miracle of life came forth from the grave...unhindered by the rocks of restriction.

My friend Jayne and I sat up to the wee small hours at my house last night chatting...another symptom of post nights insomnia. We talked about how we both believe that in our different difficult situations we believe that "God can"

I believe that God can move a mountain...no problem!

The thing is we both agreed that our problem is that we don't believe we can.

I fail to believe that If I ask God to move a mountain that it will move.

Like Peter on the water it was self doubt rather than Jesus doubt that made him sink.

I am reminded again that God can.

However I also see clearly that I have a role. A role to be confident and expectant in.

To take those tomb stones and roll them back with all of my might, expectant that something alive will emerge.

Look around.

The stones are everywhere.

Friends, Family, Colleagues, Patients, Strangers...

I said to Jayne that a good way to tell if you have enough faith, even when you feel like you have none, is if you pass someone who is "down and out" on the street and you have the ability to look and see hope, a future. If you can see that that person can be somebody in the kingdom and on earth. Even a smidgen of faith is enough for God.

Faith without works is dead.

What can I do to prepare the way for someone like this? How can I roll the stone away for the Shammah moment of God to show up and bring life.

Saying hello would be a good start.

God can

We can through him

I was sitting at the back of church on Sunday morning and I saw two of the ladies from town that sell the big issue magazine at the back with their kids. I got excited.

Probably some day someone decided to live like Jesus and took the time to speak to these ladies, rather than making narrow minded judgement. saw the potential, the beauty. Rolling stones away one by one...expecting God to show up in their lives.

Every word, action, prayer for the sake of God's kingdom counts towards his presence. The volume is cranked up, we sit back and say God is here and we watch him transform death to life as only he can do.

I need to expect that God will appear. When he shows up in the small things my faith will grow so that maybe one day I will believe him and myself for the mountain moving.