Sunday, November 17, 2024
Facebook Instagram Youtube
Home Authors Posts by Brett Fish

Brett Fish

The transforming love of God

Brett Fish
-
0
The transforming love of God

The love of God is an interesting concept.

I once heard a saying that goes something like this:

‘God loves you so much that nothing you do could ever make Him love you any less. 

God loves you so much that nothing you do could ever make Him love you any more.’

I really like that quote because it feels consistent with what the Bible teaches us about God’s love. That it is freely offered to us – it can’t be won or earned or even deserved. God loves us to capacity.

A woman and some stones

We see this illustrated powerfully in the life of Jesus on one occasion (which you can find in John 8.1-11 in the Bible). A woman who has been caught in adultery is brought before Jesus and as a means of trying to trap Him, her accusers ask Jesus what they should do.

According to Jewish law, the consequence of committing adultery was being stoned. The religious leaders really wanted to see Jesus advocate the death penalty over a woman where it was completely legitimate from a legal perspective.

What is interesting in this story is that Jesus does not argue with the legality of their case. He doesn’t tell them they are interpreting the law wrong and that the consequence is not meant to be that she gets stoned. He does something completely revolutionary and brilliant.

He actually gives them permission, but with one proviso as He looks the crowd in their faces, and says, “Sure go ahead. But whoever throws the first stone must be someone who is without sin.” (paraphrased)

An escape and a call to change

We are told that the men dropped the rocks they were carrying and started to slink away. Another aspect I love about this particular story is that it points out that it is the older men who drop their stones first. As if the revelation hits them a little quicker than the younger ones. “I am not without sin and so who am I to carry out the judgement.”

We are left with Jesus and the woman. He looks at her and He utters a pronouncement:

“Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?

“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I.”

Absolution.  Forgiveness. The love of God.

‘Nothing you have done or can do can ever make God love you any less.’

But that is not all that Jesus says. He speaks one final message to the woman:

“Go and leave your life of sin.”

The love of God in Jesus is so powerful that it doesn’t simply discount the mess the woman finds herself in. It provides a call out of the messiness and brokenness to a changed and transformed life.

‘Nothing you will ever do can make God love you any more.’

Jesus doesn’t suggest that God will love the woman more if she earns His love by changing her life. But rather it is the absolute love of God that she has already received that calls to her to live differently.

And the same is true for you. If you have been trying to earn God’s love, or if you have lived in fear that you have somehow lost it, you need to know that is not true. His love remains completely available to you. But at the same time, God will always call you to live the best, most transformed life that you can.

 

Throwing stones at kids

Brett Fish
-
0
Throwing stones at kids

“Doing something is better than doing nothing.”

That is the comment that someone wrote to me this week on a fairly heated Facebook exchange as I was critiquing a public action that had happened in South Africa, which was not being properly received by some.

It made me think of this story:

The other day I was driving around my neighbourhood and I saw some kids on the side of the road who were hungry. I didn’t have any food and so I drove past them. But then I thought to myself, “No, doing something is better than doing nothing, so I pulled over, collected a bunch of rocks that were lying at the side of the road, drove back to the kids and threw my rocks at them, making sure I hit each kid at least once.

Yes, my mind works like that sometimes. And no I didn’t actually throw any stones at any children. But that parable illustrates an extreme version of the ‘Doing something is better than doing nothing’ ideology that obviously shows that it is not always true. Sometimes, doing nothing is a lot better than doing a wrong, unhelpful, potentially dangerous thing.

THE CHURCH AND THE PAINT

When we lived in Philadelphia for 18 months, we stayed with a friend Sueihn, who used to spend her holidays with a Native American community to serve and love them. She told us the one story about how one summer during a six week period six churches came on a missions trip to the community, painted the church, and left. So each group goes home with photos and stories of how amazing they were in this community. And a church got painted SIX TIMES!

Again, an example of doing nothing being better than doing something.

THE THIRD WAY

But wait, there is another way. Even better than choosing to do nothing rather than doing something bad, unhelpful or destructive, we can choose to do the right thing.

One of the problems with doing the right thing is that it can take decidedly more time, energy, effort and sacrifice. But if it brings the worthwhile end result, maybe that is something we should be focusing on more.

The Facebook exchange I alluded to at the beginning of this piece was around a movement called #BlackMonday. Tired of the government and some recent decisions, a number of people decided to wear black clothes to protest and let the government know they weren’t happy. One of the many problems with this though was that a lot of black people felt like white people had been silent during a whole lot of other events that affected them and when something affected white people, only then did they get up to protest. So one of the major problems of this was a history of inaction.

With the church painting scenario, it looks more like a lack of communication or relationship. The church that went in to the reservation assumed that the best thing to do for the community was to paint their church. After all, who doesn’t want a painted church roof? (Answer: A church that has already been painted five times!) So they would have done much better had they spoken to the people in the reservation before they went and asked what was needed or wanted from the community they were going to visit.

Some ways we can have a better chance of doing the right thing include:

Build genuine relationships: 

Doing something with someone rather than for someone tends to carry a lot more weight. If we build authentic relationships with the people around us, then we are more likely to learn and understand and be able to talk about the needs that exist.

Good communication:

Instead of assuming the needs or wants of a group or person, ask them. Again, if we are building good relationship then the foundation has been set for us to communicate an idea we might have (“Hey I thought this might be fun for you. Would it be?”) or inquire about a space where our help might be appreciated.

Do your homework: 

It helps to put in some time to learn about whatever situation you are wanting to invest in. If you are doing work in a country, spend some time researching its history. If you are going into a particular area, try to speak to some people who live there or have visited before. If you are dealing with race issues as I am in South Africa, read books written be people who don’t look like you. And so on.

The idea of ‘Doing something is better than doing nothing’ actually feels quite lazy to me. Which also suggests the likelihood of inauthentic relationships or bad communication. None of these are very helpful and you probably would be better off doing nothing. But that in itself is not super helpful either and so let’s commit to the third way of doing our best to ensure that the something we do, is something that will be helpful, beneficial and acceptable to all those involved.

How showing love sometimes looks like a pillow

Brett Fish
-
0
How showing love sometimes looks like a pillow

I bought my wife Valerie (aka tbV or the beautiful Val) a pillow yesterday.

I know what you’re thinking: not the most romantic move of all time. But you’d be wrong.

Let’s backtrack a week or so to where months of planning had resulted in Valerie pulling together the first ever Justice Conference of South Africa which was a huge success. Resulting in a very tired wife.

A weekend trip to Mosselbay to connect with good friends of mine who we had not seen since one night on our honeymoon where we specifically visited Jeffrey’s Bay to connect with them. This was an amazing two days but two accompanying children meant it was not necessarily the most restful occasion. So we stayed an extra night in an Airbnb room in a house in Klein Brak Rivier.

LOVE IS A BRAND NEW PILLOW

The bed we were sleeping on had the most comfortable pillows we have ever experienced (our ones back home are quite deflated and unexciting in comparison). When Val took a look at the label she discovered they were from Mr Price Home which is one of the most affordable stores we have here. (Husbandman files information in memory for later use).

Bringing us back to the present. My wife has a saying that goes like this: I love bed. Kind of like Steve Carrell’s Brick character in Anchorman and his fascination with lamp, except that Val really does love bed. So when I was out yesterday I made some time to head into Mr Price Home and get for her a brand new pillow which I then snuck into one of our old derelict pillow cases.

Fast forward a really difficult day dealing with a lot of post conference admin and frustrating people and things and Val comes home quite tired and deflated. Lies down on bed and a transformation occurs. Happy wife.

And all it took was a pillow.

LOVE IS HOW YOU KNOW

This particular week and on this particular day, a big bunch of bright red roses would not have brought the same kind of smile to my wife’s face as that pillow did. And yet who of us would consider a pillow to be a romantic thing? I don’t see any hands.

The key really is in how well you know the person you are trying to express love to. Sometimes that can be about knowing their Love Language (The way they best receive love through Physical Touch, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service or Words of Affirmation) while other times it can come from understanding their context. Sometimes the best gift can be all about the right timing.

Think of someone you want to show love to – can be a partner or spouse, but can also be a family member or a good friend. What does that person enjoy? What makes them come alive? For one person it might be the right type of speciality food, while for another it will be a walk out in nature. For someone it might be taking them to watch a movie, or challenging them to a game of Scrabble, and for someone else it might be securing them a place where they can go and be by themselves for a few hours. 

So for my wife, on this particular day and at this particular moment, the most appropriate gift was a pillow. Tomorrow it might be a piece of Mugg and Bean Lemon Meringue or a new set of pencil crayons for her to colour with.

As for me, when I bought my wife a pillow, I also bought for myself a box of blue hair dye, which I’ve been wanting to get for a while. I’ll let you know how that turns out…

 

Blessed are the interruptions

Brett Fish
-
2
Blessed are the interruptions

There are two stories that come to mind when Jesus allowed interruptions in the Bible… and both times people died because of it.

A DEAD GIRL AND A SICK WOMAN

The first time Jesus had been asked by a religious leader named Jairus, to come and look at his 12-year-old daughter who was sick with the hope that He would heal her. We can read the story in Mark 5. But as Jesus is on His way to see her, we read this account:

A large crowd followed and pressed around him.  And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.  She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

This woman had been sick for twelve years and you kind of think that surely Jesus could have let her wait another few hours. Especially when Jairus receives a message that his daughter has died. Jesus was too late.

A SICK FRIEND AND A SLOW JOURNEY

In the second story we witness the news that Jesus has heard that His good friend Lazarus is quite sick. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha who both feature prominently in the Jesus’ story and so we can assume that they were really close. But once again Jesus responds in a less than urgent way, which we can read about in John 11:

So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

We are told that on Jesus’ arrival, Lazarus had not only already died, but had been in the tomb for four days. Again, Jesus was too late.

WHEN INTERRUPTIONS ARE GOOD

Both stories I shared show Jesus allowing, on the one hand, and inviting, on the other, interruptions to what seemed like urgent and important journeys.

And we could read them both as failures, except for the fact, that in both cases, the interruption was not the end of the story. It may seem like the end as we are not used to much happening after someone has died. And yet on both occasions we read how Jesus miraculously brought both the daughter and His friend back to life.

The story with the woman feels a little more incidental. Jesus being aware that a whole crowd of people wanted His attention but that this particular case deserved or required it.

But the story with Lazarus feels completely intentional. There wasn’t even a good excuse for Jesus to not rush to His dying friend’s side. He chooses to “waste time”. As if He knew that the work God wanted to do (raising Lazarus from the dead) was so much bigger than a simple healing miracle.

LESSONS TO LEARN

I have never been personally used by God to raise anyone from the dead. So the lessons may not seem to apply to me. Except that I do think there is still a lot we can learn from the way Jesus interacts.

Jesus never seems to be hurried or rushed, even when circumstances would seem to dictate it. He had a plan, but even in His plan there was space for an interruption, when He chose to allow it attention.

Perhaps that is how Jesus has been working in your life. Not pressuring you, but slowly working, enticing you towards Him and waiting for the moment when you feel ready to allow Him to interrupt your life. If you have a sense that this might be the time for something like that, please click on the banner below and hear a little more.

Taking moments to build altars

Brett Fish
-
0
Taking moments to build altars

As we walked along the beach, I pointed to a large rock on the edge of the water and asked Val if she wanted to build an altar? She spent the next thirty minutes finding just the right smoothed and rounded stones, stacking them up on top of each other (until there were twelve of various shapes and sizes) and then we sat quietly and took a photo.

LET’S REWIND THE CLOCK A LITTLE

Just one week before, the scene was a lot less calm as close to 1000 people were converging on the first ever Justice Conference to be held in South Africa. And this self same Val (aka my wife) was the person in charge of pulling the whole thing together.

It was an incredible time and vastly exceeded expectations of the team that had spent months pulling it together. But then it was time for a break and especially for Val to have a few days off to recover and recharge before she jumped back into post Conference admin.

So here we were, on a beach in Klein Brak Rivier, taking a walk along the beach and just enjoying the quiet and serenity of nature.

AN ALTAR OF REMEMBRANCE

The Bible is full of moments where God’s people built altars to remind them of how good their God was. We see it after Noah and his family are saved from the flood, after Moses and the Israelites escape the Egyptians via a miraculous walk through the parted Red Sea, and again after Jacob has had a dream from God after having just escaped the wrath of his brother.

A visual reminder that God is present and powerful and active in our lives. The idea that any time anyone saw that altar in the future they would be reminded of what God had done and remember to thank Him and give Him praise.

SPOKEN WORDS OF GRATITUDE

After Val had finished the altar, we took turns speaking lines of thankfulness for ways in which God has shown up at the Conference. From the diversity of the people on stage to the servant nature of everyone involved to the depths of conversation that were started. We spoke out line after line of thanks to God.

Our altar is a little different. People who walk along that beach may notice the stones and wonder how they came to be piled upon one another. They will just be seen as a pile of stones. But we will have the memory. And the photo. And the journey towards another conference next year perhaps and the need for a new beach walk and altar build.

WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?

There is a lot of symbolism in the Bible that I am really grateful for as it helps me connect to the invisible God. Broken bread and wine to remind us of the sacrifice that He made when He stepped in to take our place. The waters of baptism promising us there is a way for the old to be gone and for a new life to be possible. Altars built to shout aloud of a God who is not distant and removed. But who is there in the middle of the action.

Is there something you want to celebrate at the moment? A life, work or family moment that you want to give thanks for. And be reminded of? Beyond your immediate memory…

I want to encourage you to look for moments to build altars to be present in the moments of gratitude that you are part of. If you are someone who does not believe in God, then perhaps using these moments of reflection to invite God to reveal Himself in and around your life, as the God who is always there. Creating moments to bring you closer to Him in His creation.

 

Conflict: When the bow doesn’t tie so neatly

Brett Fish
-
1
Conflict: When the bow doesn’t tie so neatly

Crying, the beloved country…

This week there was an altercation between a man and a woman at a Spur restaurant in South Africa. The conflict started as some fighting between their children but soon became a much bigger issue as the man took on the mother at her table in front of her children calling her offensive names and threatening violence. She responded with some strong words of her own.

Social media was divided about whether or not this was indeed yet another racist incident in a long line of race incidents that have come across our screens in the last year.

CAN’T WE ALL JUST BE FRIENDS

This post is not even really about that. 2016 was a terrible year in South Africa for race incidents and the big five that come to mind are Penny Sparrow, the Pretoria Girls High hair incident, the Andre Slade guest house debacle, the coffin assault and yet another beach description by Ben Sasonof (all of which you can read about here).

And every time that I, or others, discussed these incidents on social media there would be someone (or someones) taking us on for making everything about race or looking for an argument.

The underlying cry of many people in the face of adversity that doesn’t directly affect them, it to seek out comfort and positive attitude and simplistic solutions. We tend to shy away from things that are messy, painful, complicated, difficult and above all, confrontational.

We often want to wrap things up in pretty packages and tie them neatly with a bow.

AWKWARDLY SHAPED GIFT

One thing you need to consider, when dealing with an issue of racism or sexism, of patriarchy or gender dispute, of the haves and the have-nots, is that solutions generally are not easy. When you have a complicated problem, the solution is more than likely going to be a difficult one to achieve.

The problem though with papering over the cracks or applying a band-aid to a problem of significance is that your “solution” is only a temporary one.

A problem that is deeply affecting a large number of people is not going to sit quietly in the corner. Rather it will grow and inflate and expand and push at the covers you have tried to contain it with, but at some point it is going to explode and that is not going to be pretty.

HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE?

The issue might be different in the country you are from. But the principle is the same.

When it comes to significant matters, we have to expect to give them due focus. And more often than not that will not be comfortable, easy or conflict free. We need to learn to be okay with difficult, awkward, uncomfortable and confrontational, especially if it promises us a much deeper and more thorough dealing with the issue.

Too often we want to speed through a process that requires all concerned to really put in the effort so that it can be properly dealt with.

I’m reminded of the story of the man who was watching a cocoon with a silkworm in it. The silkworm was transforming into a beautiful butterfly, but really seemed to be struggling to break through the wall of the cocoon and so eventually, the man could take it no longer and grabbed some scissors and carefully cut a hole in the side of the cocoon. The butterfly was free, but the man noticed that the wings of the creature were weak and deformed. It is through the process of pushing repeatedly against the wall of the cocoon that the butterfly is able to strengthen her wings so that she will be able to fly with them. In trying to skip the difficult and awkward and painful and confrontational, the man had robbed the insect of the very thing she needed to function properly.

We need to be careful when we are trying to rush or fast forward a process that might itself be valuable in terms of our growth or strengthening. When conflict rears its head, don’t be too quick to dismiss it or try to rush to the finish line without doing the necessary work. In so doing, you might be missing out on what the journey itself has to offer you.

Can you remember a time when pushing through a tough time strengthened you and grew you for something later in life? Share it with us in the comments below.

 

The King and the towel

Brett Fish
-
0
The King and the towel
When last did you stop to wash someone’s feet?

We recently helped run the first ever Justice Conference in South Africa and it was good.

One of the best things for me was witnessing the amount of justice put into the planning of the conference in terms of who got to speak, who was on stage, who made the decisions and so on.

In the past, conferences in our country have looked largely white male middle-aged. This time the team ensured that closer to 50% of the planning team was female, close to 40% was under the age of 35 and a large percentage of it was non-white.

When it came to the conference itself there were something like 66 contributors of which again about half were female and only 6 or so were white. This was a very different look to most conferences in South Africa, especially in the church and full of so much significance there already.

WHERE TO FIND THE LEADERS?

This is taken from some words my friend Jacqui Tooke, who was at the conference shared, about something she noticed that stood out for her:

It is about one local, predominantly white church that I have recently come to know. Throughout the conference, I would see various members of this church, led by the senior pastor and his wife, ushering people to the correct venues, making sure everyone had meal vouchers, mopping floors, running the children’s programme and generally being behind the scenes to support the organisation of the conference.

Unseen and not demanding to be seen. I know this church has an awesome worship band, has run a few excellent teaching series on restitution and generosity, and is exploring how a church can do mercy and justice.

They could easily have expected to serve at the conference in the upfront ways, but they chose the path of unnoticed helping. In a historical context where the white church has monopolised the setting of the agenda, choosing to serve in this way is a small act of restitution.

This created a platform for black voices of the broader South African church to be heard in the teaching and preaching, in the prophetic voices and in worship. These voices are indeed crucial to the church in South Africa and in creating a vision for all that the church can be in fighting injustice.

So often I hear white folk ask “what can we do?” thinking they need to start something or lead the way in something. I share this story not because this church wants the attention or to be especially thanked, but as an example of what us white folk can do.

We can serve, we can get behind black leaders and voices, we can stand with those who are already working in ways to undo the dehumanising structures of our society. We can let go of our need to make it all about us, our need to be upfront and to fix the problem our way. Of course, this is not the only role for the white church, but it is a good place to start.

WHERE DID WE GET THIS?

There is a story in the Bible told about Jesus near the end of His life. He is about to share His last Passover supper with His disciples and so He organises a venue and prepares for a special meal with them

But then, before they get to the meal, something strange happens. Jesus strips down to His underwear and grabs a bucket of water and a towel and starts working His way around the group, one by one, washing each disciple’s feet.

You can read the whole story in John 13:1-17. There is an altercation with Peter (as always) but He finishes off by saying these words:

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.

GO AND DO LIKEWISE

One thing that Jesus taught and showed us again and again by both His words and His life, is that His kingdom operated differently from the one we are used to.

I am used to leaders pushing their way to the front of food queues, fighting over who gets the mic and making sure they are noticed. Yet Jesus would have none of this (and rebuked His followers on occasion for seeking the center stage). Instead He models stepping out of the light into the shadows and getting on with the work of His Father, establishing His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus invites us to follow Him and that extends to living the same kind of self-sacrificing life that He lived, never seeking to be out in front or receiving all the glory, but happy to simply live out the mission and see His Father receive all the praise.

That feels like the kind of God I would want to explore a little more and get to know. How about you?

 

Where is God when He’s not?

Brett Fish
-
0
Where is God when He’s not?

I remember the first time I couldn’t feel God. 

It lasted for about an hour and a half and completely devastated me.

I had grown up in a Christian home with a dad who was a pastor and so had lived most of my life in the church. Consequently I grew up with an awareness of God. And something that I obviously attributed to being a feeling of Him.

But this happened at a Student Christian event and it was a lot more than just an absence of the feeling of God. It was the presence of something really dark. I just remember feeling absolutely full of fear and all alone and it was really weird and scary. And as quickly as it appeared it disappeared and life returned to normal. Because it didn’t happen again, I soon forgot about it.

A LENGTHIER PAUSE

A few years later it happened again. This time was not nearly as intense as the first time, but it lasted for 18 months. I was in England earning money to join a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Discipleship Training School (DTS) for six months to do a short terms mission school.

This time it happened a lot more slowly and gradually intensified. Without going into the specifics it really caused me a lot of concern because of how long it lasted. I started to believe that any feeling I had had of God before must have been a childish thing and that it was all about what you knew in your head and heart and best to focus on that. Maybe this is what growing up was all about?

But then one day, that too passed. And there were moments of feeling God again. It never returned in the same force as I had experienced while growing up and from then on has been a bit of a rollercoaster with ups and downs of various heights and depths, which is a whole lot harder but maybe a lot more realistic to life.

WHICH BRINGS US TO TODAY

What was super helpful about getting through that 18 month period of doubt and struggle was that I made it through. So a year or so after that when it struck again for three weeks I was able to look back and say, “I got through eighteen months of this, I can stay strong” and it worked.

Five years ago my wife and I moved to Americaland (as I call it) for three years to work with Christian non-profits and although it was quite a difficult time for various reasons, for the most part I would say there were a lot of times of feeling really close to God again. Especially when we stayed in Oakland for the last eighteen months and were part of an amazing church called Regeneration.

But since returning home to South Africa (two years now) I seem to have returned to a place of deep, dark valley and there has not been a lot of feeling.

BRING IN THE FRIENDS

It’s kinda cheesy – and I’m not a fan of cheese – but I actually like the saying of how the church (as in the followers of Jesus) can be described as ‘God with skin on’. Because when you’re not feeling God, it is certainly amazing when someone pitches up to be God in a way to you.

This week it was my friend Wayne. He knew I was struggling a bit and so he sent me a message to check in on me and then instantly organised a time to have coffee and catch up. Which we did yesterday. He also lend me some books: ‘The God of Intimacy and Action’ by Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling, and ‘The Road to Peace’ by Henri Nouwen.

I haven’t had a chance to really start reading the books yet, but I did get through the Intro to ‘The God of Intimacy and Action’ and it starts with this super encouraging verse:

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”- Ephesians 3:16-19

If there really is a God, then that is an amazing prayer. In the times of valley and distance and doubt and questioning, how powerful to be reminded of just how incredibly HUGE God’s love for you is. Demonstrated by Him sending one of His followers to encourage me and walk with me and listen to me and just console me with the words, “This too shall pass”. To give me counsel and friendship and resources to help me along a path he has already walked.

Where is God when He’s not? He’s always there, always. It is only the feeling of Notness that becomes a little more overwhelming and which will stifle us if we don’t have people around us to remind us of the Truth. God loves us very much and is deeply committed to us, no matter what we feel like at the time.

The unity to be found in community

Brett Fish
-
0
The unity to be found in community

I didn’t cycle the 109km Argus Cycle Tour this past weekend.

Not cycling a race doesn’t sound like the kind of announcement one makes, right? But in this case, it has specific significance.

Firstly, the Argus Cycle tour is a race I have cycled successfully 16 times already. [Although to be fair the last successful ride was probably six or seven years ago due to being away and various other factors]. But this year I don’t think I was fit enough to finish it. The only reason I entered was cos my best friend Duncan REALLY wanted me to do it with him and so he somehow managed to talk me into it.

There were a group of six of us who were going to be riding together. And given my history of crazy dress up for the race as a way to help mobilise crowd support we had some fun clothes [stockings and tutus and a stuffed animal stuck to our helmet] planned for the big day.

We had started training a little later than normal and so I only managed two 32km cycles in the weeks leading up the race as well as some shorter saddle-time rides by myself.

LEADING UP TO THE RACE

Leading up to the race I was really nervous about the 109km and the only thing that was likely to help me finish it was the crew of cyclists who were riding with me. So after doing the two warmup rides my confidence levels had risen to ‘Maybe I will finish this thing after all.’

The day before the race we got sent a message saying that they were expecting severe winds and if people weren’t feeling fit they should consider pulling out. Needless to say this was not a huge boost to my confidence. Huge winds plus not great fitness meant it was really going to be tough.

There were also some fires that had taken place along certain areas of the route and a protest was planned at one of those locations and so we then got a message that the route had been changed and we were now going to be doing just 78km of race. Suddenly I started to believe I could do it.

DAY OF THE RACE

On the morning of the race I was feeling confident. With these friends at my side I could definitely make it through 78km. We had already done 64km together so this was only another 14km right?

But then as we cycled towards the beginning of the race we got the message that the whole race, due to extreme weather conditions had been cancelled. Bitterly disappointed we ended up at the one friend’s house and decided to breakfast together instead.

So a bit of a back and forth story, but the one consistent part of the story was friendship or community. By myself I never believed I had enough in me to finish the race. But with the others by myself, even with the strongest winds against us, I figured there was some chance.

WHEN COMMUNITY SHOWS UP

The fires I spoke about destroyed a lot of homes in a poor community and somewhere between 1500 and 3000 people were deeply affected by this. And as devastating as that was, it was impressive to start to see signs of community kicking in.

The supermarket chain sponsoring the cycle race donated all of the food and drinks to the community. Withing hours there were various calls on social media for people to donate food and clothes and money. Volunteers and pick up points and churches and other non-profits were mobilised and a lot of effort was being poured into this community.

I just heard as I was writing this that something like R600 000 had been raised specifically for school packs for the children in the community [different groups are responsible for different areas of need].

By ourselves we can not do all that much of significance, but together the opportunities are endless.

SMALL AND BIG SCALE

Many people have mixed feelings about social media, but for me the one place where I have seen it be the most effective is where there is a need. Social media used well can be a great way to connect people with needs and find the resources needed to fulfil those needs.

These are just two stories – one on a very personal level and one on a more grander scale – of how having the right people around you can be significant in seeing the improbable or the seemingly impossible be brought to life.

As a follower of Jesus I have found that the church [the people of God] is the best community to be connected to on a number of levels – physically, spiritually, emotionally, economically, opportunitywise and so on.

Two helpful questions as we seek to be part of meaningful communities are these:

# Who are the people that have my back? Who are those who will help you defy the odds when facing a personal battle or obstacle to overcome like my amazing cyclist friends.

# Who am I being authentic community to/with? Who are the people, families and organisations that I am walking with, contributing to, encouraging and supporting in different ways?

Before you have faith

Brett Fish
-
0
Before you have faith

Do you have faith in God? Or has that been something that has felt a little beyond your reach for some time?

You might be someone who has heard about this Jesus guy, but you’re not sure that following Him is for you.

One of the most powerful stories from the Bible must be where Jesus is busy preaching to a crowd of people and it starts to get quite late. Instead of breaking up the crowd and sending them home, Jesus looks at His disciples and says, “You feed them!”

The crowd has been described as 5000 people, although we see in some versions that it specifically says “5000 men as well as women and children”. So somewhere between 5000 and 15000 people you can imagine. “Feed them? Who us?”

Andrew, the much quieter brother of the more raucous Peter (who is always putting his foot in it) finds a young boy with some lunch and brings him to Jesus. There is not a lot written about Andrew in the Bible but the stories there are, are often about him bringing someone to Jesus.

The miracle of the lunch

Five small barley loaves and two fish. With the backdrop of 10 thousand plus people. It just seems completely ridiculous. Yet, instead of turning the boy away, Andrew takes him to Jesus, because he has seen Jesus do big things from not much at all.

Flashback to the very first miracle Jesus performs. He is at a wedding with His mom and some of His disciples and the wedding party runs out of wine. His mom pushes Him to the front and says He will save the day (even though Jesus didn’t really feel like it was time to reveal His power yet) and so He decides to respect and honour His mom. From jars of water, He creates the finest wine, so fine that the guests accuse the wedding part of saving the best til last.

Long story short, Jesus gives thanks for the food and He distributes it to the crowds and there are basketfulls of leftovers. God is not one to do things in small measure.

Where do I begin?

Returning to the statement I made at the start of this article, you might be someone who has been impressed by some of the stories you have heard about Jesus, but you’re not fully convinced. My advice? Give Him what you have.

If you have doubts, offer them to Jesus.

If you have fears, hand them over to God.

What ever uncertainty you may have, start with where you are, and move towards Him.

When someone is not sure whether they believe in God or not, I always encourage them to ask God if He is real and to connect with them. I believe that is one of the prayers He loves answering the most. And if there is no God, then it certainly can’t hurt to ask right.

But what if there is?

My encouragement as you read this, is to approach God from the place where you are currently at and just open your hands and invite Him to do what He will with what you offer Him. I did that decades ago and although it has not always been fun or simple or made sense all of the time, I have never looked back.

What have you got to lose?

 

1...456...20Page 5 of 20

Connect with us

131,149FansLike
52,400FollowersFollow
0SubscribersSubscribe

Sorry, it appears you're are using a browser that isn't supported to view this page. Try using another browser (e.g Chrome or Firefox) so that you can connect with us.

© 2024 1Africa