The Long Walk Home

“God wants to change us into people who are truly noble, people who reflect an unswerving confidence in who he is, which equips us to face all of life and still remain faithful. Spirituality based on pretence is not spirituality at all. God wants us to be courageous people who are deeply bothered by the horrors of living as part of a fallen race, people who look honestly at every struggle, who feel overwhelmed by what we see, yet emerge prepared to live; scarred, still troubled, but deeply loving.”
Larry Crabb “Inside out”

“And laments have a purpose and laments have a cost
A requim playing gathers the lost
It sometimes tastes sour the sweetness of hope
When the blizzards are raging on this lovers slope
Yet I don’t want to freeze inside or out
For it’s you that disolves the cold walls of doubt.

So turn me tender again
Fold me into you
Turn me tender again
And mould me to new
Faith lost it’s promise
And bruised me deep blue
Turn me tender again
Through union with you.”
(Martyn Joseph)

The thing is, the darkness doesn’t go. Even on the best days of dwelling in the love of God, even on my best days of not responding cynically to every expression of love that comes from my Father and others. Even on the days where I am secure in who He has made me to be and not grasping on to the gifts more than the giver. Even on the days that I win some battles. Even on the days that the sun shines in all it’s splendor.
The darkness does not go.

It’s not enough. Just not enough.

“Yet still this will not be.
Though all around is rage
The story getting darker with each turning of the page
Yet still this will not last.
This kingdom of the fool
Will be humbled and made low
When the broken hearted rule.”
(Martyn Joseph)

“Beneath the surface of everyone’s life, especially the more mature is an ache that will not go away. It can be ignored, disguised, mislabelled, or submerged by a torrent of activity, but it will not disappear. And for good reason. We were designed to enjoy a better world than this. And until that better world comes along we will ache for what we do not already have. An aching soul is evidence not of neurosis or spiritual immaturity, but of realism… yet there is no escape from an aching soul, only denial of it. The promise of one day being with Jesus in a perfect world is the Christians only hope for complete relief. Until then we either groan or pretend that we don’t.”

“Inside out”- Larry Crabb

Well, the top news of the day is that the badgering has worked and Ms Bushell has chosen to hide her light no longer. Click on the campaign link at the side of the page to see further exciting news from her good self. (I like it because I get a mention, but as, apparently, this universe isn’t given to revolving around me then I’d recommend it because it has merit all by itself, even if it never mentioned me again.) Now is not the time to tell you all the good things about the said author (you’d need a bucket and a very very long session here) but be assured you’ll find fun, randomness and most of all reality over on her blog. So there you go. Advert over.

Small thought- does anyone else find it somewhat bizarre that the spell check on this blog doesn’t recognise the word ‘blog’. Hmm

To join the campaign to start one of my favorite people blogging check out this. Although there is something quite disturbing about the latest video.

Trying poping some Bubbles.