Better than Chips at Cobo!

This is Diane and me preparing to contemplate a Guernsey sunset at a glorious place on the West coast of the island called Cobo (pronounced like 'oboe' with a 'C'). Despite how it looks, we really hadn't fallen out as there was a picnic basket between us on the bench and we were eating fish and chips bought from Cobo Chippy - a local delicacy! (https://www.facebook.com/Cobofishbar)! They were wonderful as usual. It had been a hard day, especially for Diane, as we had been at the burial of her dear sister Angela in the morning, and then taking part in a service of thanksgiving for Ange's life in the afternoon.

Sunsets at Cobo are famous. They are such an inspiring way to end a difficult day. They also mean that someone else to the West of us is still enjoying their day, or else waking up to a brand new start. The writer of the hymn 'The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended' knew this:

The sun that bids us rest is waking

Our brethren 'neath the western sky
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
Thy wondrous doings heard on high

As over each continent and island
The dawn leads on another day
The voice of prayer is never silent
Nor dies the strain of praise away

For Angela, whose trust in God was vital and strong, her day goes on. Just as the setting sun for us becomes the rising sun for others, so the world she inhabits now is totally different from the one blighted by disease and dementia that she has left. It's not the end, but rather the beginning of a brand new day, seeing Jesus and serving Him, like she did when she was well, and even more so in the company of the saints.

So, although there is an element of loss and regret as the sun 'bids us rest', we take heart in the promise and hope to which it points. As St Paul says in his letter to the Christians in Rome: 'If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us' (Romans 6:6-9 The Message). 

Now that's even better than chips at Cobo!

 

Trusting When it Seems so Wrong to me

Last week I had a few glorious days at Harnhill Christian Healing Centre in Gloucestershire, a truly wonderful place of ministry, peace and quietness. I went to wait on God for his guidance in my life but also to receive prayer for healing. I was not disappointed and really enjoyed my time there, but I learned some valuable lessons by just observing nature around me. With the warm weather that week and the sights and sounds of scores of new born lambs leaping in the sunshine it felt like a glimpse of heaven! I saw one ewe give birth to triplets, only then to discover that there was a fourth lamb on its way. This tiny creature slithered into the world and the long-suffering mother began to lick off the protective yellow coating with a sigh as if it had just come in home late after falling in a puddle. Yet the beauty of the week was challenged by the fact that the farmer had to then remove two of the lambs due to the ewe not being able to suckle them all. He seemed almost heartless in his matter-of-fact approach to his task even though I knew him to be a man who cared deeply for his sheep. The bereaved ewe could not have known this but those lambs would be given to other sheep that had lost their own lambs by being stillborn. There was method in his harshness and even a touch of mercy in his apparent indifference to her bleating cries.

Clearly from the ewe's point of view the shepherd was being really harsh and cruel, taking away her precious offspring and the fruit of her hard work. Only he really knew what the gift of those lambs would mean to some distant bereaved sheep, perhaps even on some other farmer's land as they co-operated together in lambing time. Being a shepherd is a tough job and those who undertake it are not soft, though they are usually well meaning and wise. Our divine shepherd asks us to keep on trusting him even when his actions may cause us grief or pain. Having been a patient in a London hospital many times in the last 12 months I have reflected on this mystery often. What I have discovered is that in every circumstance of life it is important for the sheep to keep trusting Jesus who described himself as "the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep". No flock could ask for more from its shepherd even if they fail to understand his methods. He has good plans for us even in the difficult times. He knows what he is about and our job is to welcome him and trust in him.

So Harnhill was good for me.  It enabled me to reaffirm my confidence that I am willing to let God set the agenda in my life even if that means the awful pain I go through daily. I can't discern or describe any worth or purpose in this but I do acknowledge that my 'good shepherd' has a plan and I choose to trust in him.  And you?