Tuesday, August 22, 2017

I have been watching birds around our home lately and am really amazed at the freedom they have just to spread their wings and take off. Well, it's my 65th birthday today, and at the age when most people are winding down and retiring I just feel I have been given a new lease of life! Certainly, following the massive surgery of last June I have a real sense of being spared - there was a risk of death in the operation - and spared for a reason. So I'm going to say this day is my retyrement day - new tyres on an old vehicle ready for the start of a new journey.

Thank you so much all of you who have sent me good wishes and cards etc. In Diane's card to me she wrote this Bible passage: "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honour me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise".

So like the free bird pictured above, and despite the immense weakness I feel in my body after the op, I am stretching my wings today to catch the breath of God's Spirit, and prepare for the new things he alone can give us. How about you?

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Strength from Weakness - the key to understanding the season you are in!

Apologies for not refreshing this blog recently as I have been at home trying to rest and recover from the massive surgery I had in Newcastle. My GP sent me an email with her own advice for this season.  She said "what you need now more than anything is rest, rest and more rest"! Wow - was she right, and it is so heard for a grown man to accept. The Professor warned me that my recovery may take 6 months to a year, but it is worth it all to know that I have no pancreas and no pain after 20 years of it! God is good and he has been so good to Diane and me during this season. Take a look at this passage from the New Testament book of 2 Corinthians 12:9. It pictures God speaking to those who follow him and receive his love. "My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness".(The Message)

So - weakness is not wasted. It can be the forerunner of a whole new day in our lives if we will own up and embrace it. I feel as weak as a lamb just now but I know that it is the weakness of preparation, the fragility of fruitfulness. If you can identify with the way I feel, be encouraged. God is not finished with us yet!

Thanks for your prayers for my safe return from this major transplant surgery.  Please continue to pray that my recovery be effective in achieving in me all that God has planned for this season of rest.