Painting Pictures of Egypt

A great sermon by Rhys Old last night, included a reference to one of my favourite songs by Sarah Groves.

I particularly like the last line ..... if the things we "want" come too quickly, is there a risk we will not fully appreciate them or not realise God's faithfulness to us day by day?

Painting Pictures of Egypt
I don’t want to leave here I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
And the places I long for the most Are the places where I’ve been
They are calling out to me Like a long lost friend
It’s not about losing faith It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable When you move so much
And the place I was wasn’t perfect But I had found a way to live And it wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this

I've been painting pictures of Egypt,I've been leaving out what it lacks
The future feels so hard,And I wanna go back!
But the places that used to fit me,Cannot hold the things I've learned
Those roads were closed off to me While my back was turned!

The past is so tangible I know it by heart Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom But now I hesitate to go
I am caught between the Promise And the things I know

I've been painting pictures of Egypt,I've been leaving out what it lacks
The future feels so hard,And I wanna go back!
But the places that used to fit me,Cannot hold the things I've learned
Those roads were closed off to me While my back was turned!

If it comes too quick I may not appreciate it Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
And if it comes too quick I may not recognize it Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

A Prayer for Today

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.


Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.



Words by Frances R. Havergal, 1874

Preaching to the Converted

Sometimes the person I most need to tell the gospel to is myself. To remind myself what God has done in the past - in the history of the world and in my own life, to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the freedom that brings, and to look forward with hope to the time when all will be made right.
No matter how I feel right now, I will praise God again.

Psalms 42 and 43
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?"
My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.
You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?
Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.
Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Jacob wrestles with God

In last night's sermon at St James it was suggested that Jacob had to learn to abandon his own resources and learn to trust in God, and that God 'maimed' Jacob so that he would be forced to rely more on God.
Does God strike us down so we have to rely on him?
Is that perhaps a reason why our prayers are not so easily answered?
Is that perhaps a reason why we suffer?

Japan is such an amazing country - so many contradictions. Tradition and technology blur.
In my travels I saw Shinto shrines and Buddist temples too many to count. I was surprised though to also see a tribute to Christian martyrs - 26 men executed in by crucifixion in 1597 in Nagasaki for their belief in Jesus. Two hundred and fifty years later, when Christian missionaries returned to Japan, they found a community of Japanese Christians that had survived underground. Another testimony to the power of God.