Failure (and dishwashers)
Here at the very end of 2017, I think it’s safe to say that my ambition to write a post
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Belief
My Decision
Found these old cards the other day. My first ever business cards. From a simpler time. When I had hair. But in all seriousness, it felt appropriate to share them today. Today marks a special kind of anniversary.
24 years ago today I made a decision. As a seven year old boy, not a lot of your decisions sick around for much longer than a year. But this one has lasted me nearly a quarter of a decade (and counting). It’s not a decision I took lightly then, and it’s one that I take even more seriously now. That decision was to externally express an internal trust and belief that Jesus is who He said He is.
I didn’t do it on a stage. I didn’t do it around others. I didn’t do it because I felt I had to. I did it because I read about the importance of accepting Jesus as He is – so He would accept me as I was (and am). I did it because -even then- I knew that the ‘feelings’ I got when I spoke with God were more than feelings. I knew Him to be real and that He was interested in knowing me, an insignificant pre-teen.
So much has changed since then. Both in my world and in the world around me. But He never changes. And just as He accepted an uncomplicated seven-year-old then – He just as much accepts the highly complicated and over-thought thirty-something now. Something I find highly re-assuring.
And even though I don’t remember much from being seven, I remember making that decision. It’s a decision that has tested me, torn me apart but also kept everything in perspective and exposed to faithfulness that is unmatched by any human. I don’t always make good decisions. But God knows, that’s the best decision I have ever made.
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The Focus
I can often find myself getting lost in myself. My brain can be a infinite abyss of complex realities and unending reasonings.
That is, as you can imagine, only multiplied in times of extra stresses, confusion or uncertainty. And lately, that has felt a little bit like where I’ve been.
Firstly, let me just stress that I am so blessed with the worlds’ best wife and children. I am by no means ‘going through it’. In comparison to many in the world today, I’m living the dream. But every now and again, the minor stresses that I deal with eat away at the joys.
And its times like this that it’s good to stop and re-adjust the focus. This song, recently released by UNITED, is one that really spoke to me in this way.
So often, I feel guilty of loosing focus in the moment of a stressful week or an uncertain bill to pay. So much so that even when I do try to refocus, I miss the most amazing point of all. If only just for the 7 odd minutes of this song, I began to realise that the re-adjustment wasn’t about my focus – but it was all about realising how intensely focused God is on me. Just like He does on all of his children.
And as the universe around us screams of His greatness, it fails to compare, nor does it distract God from His ultimate desire – us. And that’s more than enough to bring my focus back each time to meet His gaze.
But what measures could amount to your desire?
You’re the one who never leaves the one behind.
I’m not a big fan of the aesthetics behind this lyric video, but the song and the lyrics are just phenomenal.
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I don’t know
Following the events in Manchester yesterday, I am at a loss for words. I’m not sure if, as a parent, I can’t help but get a snippet of what the parents of the victims must be feeling. I’m not sure if it was because it was an attack taken out on my home country. I’m not sure of a lot of things.
I felt myself recalling a song that reflected the truth that I can’t do anything, but I can trust God. I’m not belittling the work that anyone has done in the wake of this event and I’m certainly not trying to make myself seem like a victim here – but rather – sending my prayers to those who were involved. Since that is just about all I can do. I certainly cannot begin to reason or explain why things like this happen.
I looked for a lyric video to the song that my insides sang, but I sadly couldn’t find one. So, as that’s something I could produce – that’s what I did do. But, as perhaps expected, Youtube blocked it due to copyright infringement. So Instead, here’s a few images and a link to listen to the song for yourselves.
Rise
I realise that this blog lacks a certain level consistency. I’ll start a theme and leave it open-ended. I’ll talk about heart-felt inner battles and follow that up with a sarcastic review of my latest cinematic experience. Like I say. Inconsistent. But perhaps it is, always, honest and it is in keeping up with my life. Perhaps equally inconsistent. Perhaps not.
But as we enter into the Easter Bank Holiday, it’s something I really wanted to talk about. My past inconsistencies and failed attempts at success. I make no apology for drawing parallels to the Easter message of Jesus. The true meaning of Easter probably needs no further elaboration for you to complete the analogy. While Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his brutal crucifixion three days prior, I think so too, our past dreams and failings can rise. And I think that Jesus’s supernatural return, could actual be part of the catalyst to bring our dreams back into play.
Jesus will have about as much an impact of your life as you’ll let Him have. And while there are countless claims to ultimate success and ultimate peace out there, I really don’t think any of them can actually compare than that of what Jesus can do. And so easy as it is to put Jesus into pictorial, historical and theoretical scenarios logically, there is one arena that Jesus branded out of place. And that’s today. Society says Jesus is historical. Jesus says “I am with you always, to the very end of the age”. His friendship, his resurrection skills and ultimately his eternal ticket out of h-e-double hockey-sticks.
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Crowns
I haven’t had much time to write over the last few months… But in the meantime, there have been so many blog posts I have wanted to write, but just haven’t been able to put fingers to keys. My hope is that, unless the momentum dies out from those stories, they will be told in the coming weeks and months.
But while there are but a few hours remaining for 2016, there is one post that I wanted to get out there before all of the others. As with all of my posts, this is primarily for my own sake and sanity, but I welcome anyone who wants to read along for the fun of it.
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Order Overload
It’s been too long. And for those of you who know me, you’ll know why. Things have been crazy busy at sholdstock towers over the last few weeks as our LEGO Minifigure Caricature business received its biggest ever boom in the build-up to Christmas (pun intended!). We’re thrilled at the volume of orders and as much as I’d love to write more about it, time doesn’t permit on this occasion as the orders are literally waiting for me in my next browser tab…
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The Unknown made Known
I love and struggle with the unknown. I serve a God who us unseen, believe in a future that I can’t see and base my entire life upon a book that claims to be the literal Word of God. That’s a lot of belief in the unknown. None of it can be scientifically proven and yet, to me, it’s truer than the lack of hair on my head.
But there is is an overwhelming emphasis in the media to discredit everything that can’t be scientifically proven. And that doesn’t sit right with me. Science can prove science. Science can’t prove something that isn’t confined to its laws…
But there is is an overwhelming emphasis in the media to discredit everything that can’t be scientifically proven. And that doesn’t sit right with me. Science can prove science. Science can’t prove something that isn’t confined to its laws…
Walking Dead Easter Egg
Spoiler alert. Walking Dead S05E02-03. If you’re a Walking Dead fan, and you haven’t started season 5 yet. You may
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