Funny story, on Saturday I was at work and unusually I was working on the tills, that is because I work in the kitchen making the sandwiches (I work at a fast food restaurant).  Anyway, whilst working in the tills I was just praying that I would be joyful and that my Joy would shine brightly the light of Christ to the people I was serving.  That turned out successfully. About 6 hours later, I got really cheerful and tiredness was more prevalent. Oh well, still God is sooo good.

Whilst working, I was dealing with different kinds of change, 20ps £s etc. As I was running low on some I just asked God, to give me more 20ps or whatever I wanted and then the next customer would pay in great amounts of change exactly as I needed. Then I thought that this was amazing and I asked God to provide more of other change. My next customer was a casino worker who paid over £16 in change! That was really amazing.

Through this simple life story God just showed me that he is with me no matter what I do or have done the previous day, regardless of my sin and failure he loves me; his Agape/ Hesed is totally steadfast and unconditional. Did I need the change? Not really. I could have just asked a manager and she would have given me more. Still, at times God just does not give us our needs but also our desires, kind of like a parent giving a child ice cream or a lolly. They don’t have to do that; the child does not need those things. The parent does that because they love their children, and God works on similar bases. So my challenge to you is to believe that regardless of your performance, that God always provides. Do not be afraid to ask for even your wants, sometimes he will say it’s a god idea for you to have this or that sometimes not. As Christians we can say that God totally spoils us with his ravishing love. 

This morning, as I was having my lovely porridge with a cuppa coffee, I listened to my favourite station, the BBC Radio 4. On one of the shows there was a report, of what the new Chinese leader is currently doing. There was also an interesting remark; that the vast majority of Chinese products are merely an imitation of other products that are around. Thus, there is a lack of original design. The reporter then had said something very significant, that Chinese mentality is of fear in stepping out and creating something original. Unfortunately, the reporter did not provide any more information on the reasons for that issue.

However, this attitude of failure and imitation, staying in comfort zone cannot only be applied to Chinese industry, but also to our lives. We can often stay in the comfort zone for decades on end missing out on great opportunities that will spurn our further growth in God and would provide more joy.

Great wall of China: should we stop at our greatest achievement or should we strive for greater promises from God?

How many people could we reach if we chose not to be in this comfort zone? How many people could be healed?

Don’t feel condemned, instead feel compelled to step out of the comfort zone, trusting that God upholds you and his spirit lives inside you. He has not given you a spirit of fear but of love and power. Likewise we are to not walk by sight but by faith, that is the true meaning of Christian maturity. Please don’t get me wrong I struggle with stepping out of my comfort zone a lot too but this example reminded me that, we should not only be spectators, but to do something new change the world, use the spirit and the knowledge he has already planted in me. I hope this is quite challenging and encouraging because it certainly challenges me.

Today my friend and flatmate Jack told me a riddle:

I have a friend called bob; he likes dogs but does not like cats, likes cars but does not like motorbikes. Can you guess why he does not like them?

Then for my part I had to keep in asking questions of which objects he likes or does not like. For about half an hour I tried to guess the riddle, analysing every answer that was yes or no.  My other friend Jack (believe me the names get confusing at our flat) also got the answer before me. This made me more stressed and in turn obsessed with solving the riddle. Finally, after much labouring in counting vowels, constants etc. I got the answer and it was so simple, that I became quite annoyed at not getting it in the first place.

Yet, as I was walking into Uni this morning, I was pondering how these things could be applied to our lives and spiritual walks with God. Often we try to make sure that we are not doing anything wrong and try to analyse everything as though it had some deeper meaning. But quite simply sometimes we just have to believe what he says about us. He loves us and his grace covers us, so why analyse the wrong things that we do, why should we try to work out everything to be perfect in our lives? Lets just trust him, the cross was never meant for the good but for people like us who never get things perfect, and by the way, he calls us perfect (2 Cor. 5:17)

P.S. If you want to know the answer:

It was the letter T. Bob does not like any word with a letter T in it. :D