I GIVE UP (FOR LENT)

I'm looking forward to pancakes tonight, but not to the start of lent tomorrow. An evening of pancakes followed by 40 days of 'denying' myself never fills me with anything but dread. I know it isn't compulsory but there is always a feeling that I should do something different during this time. I'm just so thankful that lent does not include Sundays and I am able to indulge at least once a week.

But is that really what lent is for? Perhaps what it is really all about is taking time to slow down, taking control of the things that are controlling us - whether eating too much, watching too much TV - and refocusing on the mission God has given us. Is that why Jesus went into the desert?

I am determined to do something for the 40 days of lent - reading and reflecting on Luke's Gospel using Tom Wright's 'Lent for Everyone' - but more than that, I want to learn to say, 'No, not now!' to the increasing pressure of the instant and 'Yes, right now!' to what God wants me to do each day.

UN

I visited a Year 4 class at the school where I am a Governor and sat through a brilliant literacy lesson - that's an English lesson for people my age! The teacher was dynamic, the kids were engaged and the learning was significant. After 75 minutes the teacher and children fell exhausted into the playground for a break having experienced a fast-paced, quick-fire, no-time-to-breathe, cram-in-as-much-as-you can experience. (That's due to the pressure on teachers and their children to learn rather than from the teacher). It was great but I came away wondering if all we are doing is teaching our children how to run faster just to keep up and if there is ever a time when we teach them that slowing down is actually good for then as well.

The danger for our children, in fact for all of us, is that we feel that everything has to be done quickly otherwise we might miss the next thing that is coming along.

I was watching the football on Sunday - what a game between Chelsea and Manchester United, fast-paced, ever-changing - and noticed the advertising around the pitch. The advertisers were promoting, faster, smaller, more powerful - a new computer, not a person - and it got me thinking, would any advertiser ever advertise, slower, bigger, weaker?

In looking at the life of Jesus, he was unhurried and uncluttered, he never seemed in a rush, he advocated letting go rather than holding on, he said the first would be last, he seemed to stop and spend time with those on the edges of society rather than rushing by. In fact he 'made himself nothing' and he 'humbled himself' (Philippians 2:7-8).

I wonder if we will ever learn how to slow down, to pause, to stop chasing after the wind and instead find the stillness where we can know God again?

Is it time to change hurry for unhurried, clutter for uncluttered? Of course there was another UN that characterises Jesus - uncompromising. He knew what was most important in his life and his mission, his connection to the Father. That takes time and should never be compromised. After all it is the only way to discover life.

GOD AND CRICKET

I always knew that God and cricket went together and now I have conclusive, unquestionable proof! There is no doubt now that the sublime and the divine are brothers. The connection? The life of C.T.Studd.

Born in 1860 in Northamptonshire, CT (as he is known to his friends!) played in the original test match against Australia in 1862. England lost the match and because it was such a disaster, the bails were cremated and put into that little urn that has been so keenly fought over (in cricketing terms) between the two countries ever since. (Just in case you don't know we won them last time, and the time before that!)

But CT Studd is remembered for more than that failure. His life was to prove so successful because he undertook incredible mission work in China and India. Travelling to China in 1885 with Hudson Taylor his life was devoted to reaching out to people with the good news of Jesus Christ not only in China but also for many years in India and what was, Belgian Congo. Reaching the people no one else was reaching with the name of Jesus. His life was overtaken by the compelling voice of Jesus who tells His followers to simply GO! And CT went.

Studd's mission was clear. He said, 'Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.' And that is exactly what he did.

What roused my interest in him was this quote from his biography;

'Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin! The time for waiting is past! Should such men as we fear? Before the whole world, aye, before the sleepy, luke-warm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God...and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man. And when we come to this position the battle is already won and the end of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real Holiness of God, not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; we will have a Masculine Holiness, one of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ.' (CT Studd Cricketer & Pioneer by Norman Grubb)

Masculine Holiness! That is fighting talk.

So it isn't only God and Cricket that go together, faith in and works for Jesus Christ also sit together in the challenges ahead for everyone, everyday, everywhere. The time for waiting is past, it's time to begin. As the cricket umpire would announce at the start of a day - 'Play!'