Culture

Depending on where we live, different norms are imposed on us. What I mean by this is that we feel compelled to fit in with the accepted way of behaving, which spills into our daily life in every way conceivable.

Here's an example. I'm afraid I'm going to get a bit churchy now.
Last Friday a bunch of us were at a Christian retreat centre called Ffald y brenin. My wife was taking a study on dance and its importance in worship through self expression. An excellent study, even if i do say so myself. Anyhow the study is way too long to go into here but my point is this.

It would be quite bizarre would it not if Christians went to church to praise God on a regular basis and did not sing or pray or speak to God at all, surely one would wonder why they are going.
Aren't all facets of worship open to us at all times? So why is it that we consider the dancing to be for just for the so called dancers, if we were to expand on this then logically would should conclude that singing is just for the so called singers.
The answer is simple, it is cultural. In Africa it is the cultural norm to dance in celebration, praise and worship, it would be unthinkable not to - an oxymoron.
My countries culture, and in particular the church tries to suppress this need in us, how bizarre.
Christianity is freedom, if it is not then it is worthless.
In the words of Christ: John 8:36
"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
A friend of mine goes goes to the same church I frequent and another elsewhere. She is an exuberant and passionate dancer as is her love for God. She was told that her dancing was demonic, and to stop.
Doesn't sound like freedom does it, but it does sound an awful lot like judgment.

FREEDOM

Choice

On Saturday, three of us sat in the square in Neath town centre, drinking coffee and chatting. Well actually we were doing a bit more than that as we had a sign up saying "Dream interpretation and destiny words". The strange thing is we did neither of those things, we did however pray for people as that is what they wanted.
One woman came to us in her wheelchair, she couldn't speak very well, and was permanently wheelchair bound, it was quite difficult to understand what she was saying some of the time. Two things however were very clear, her love for Christ and her happiness with life. We asked her if she wanted prayer but she said she didn't need anything. She was utterly content with her situation regardless of external appearance.
A few minutes later a man sat to talk to us, he had just been released from prison for armed robbery. He spent the winters in jail and the summers sleeping in a bus stop shelter. I asked him why he didn't get help with housing from the council, he shook his head and said "na don't want that." He wasn't happy at all. He did however love Christ.
These two people were utterly different in situation and their approach to life. They both however had choice as do we all. We all have the ability to choose how we react to different situations.
We often make the wrong decision as it is our choice and not Gods. Stress can send us off the rails and into a myriad of bad decisions. Nevertheless the choice is still ours and God gives us the strength to do all things, the problem is we don't always want to do it Gods way.

Extrapolation II

Omens, sorcery, divination, soothsaying, black magic, an observer of the times. These are some of the words that are used in Leviticus 19:26 and Deuteronomy 18:10, in various translations. It even says in one translation not to study the clouds.

Some extrapolation going on here?

Now here's the thing:

Mathew 16:3
"And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?

Revelation 8:10,11
10And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

11And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

So the Bible uses celestial bodies in its foretelling!

Let me be clear, we are to rely on God for everything in our life, and should not be affected by the times or the seasons or events, if God tells us to do something, then we should do it no matter what.

This Friday and Saturday night, 07/07/07, several churches were supposed to join in unity, and praise God for 24 hours on the Preseli mountains in South west Wales, the weather forecast however is rain, which means a possible muddy field. So the signs were read and the proposed event cancelled.

A fiew of us are still going down as we feel it is important.

Surely, this is how you read the signs. Oh! it's going to rain, but God told us to do this, so.... perhaps wellies and a raincoat.

Now after saying all this I am not suggesting that we all take up astrology, only that we do not add or take away from Gods written word and that we do take account of the signs around us and take appropriate measures in order to fulfill what God has called us to do.

Let us not move to the wisdom of this time, let us be true to God, the author and finisher of all things. Amen

Extrapolation

It's a funny thing. You think you know something, but in reality you are ignorant and have merely interpreted what you have heared or seen to be accurate without actually checking it up yourself. What I am actually talking about here is ignorance. That is coming to a decision on something by examining the things around it, instead of actually knowing the truth.
Similarly, extrapolation is a method of determining the next point or action by comparing it to the ones surrounding it.
So what can you extrapolate that I am going to talk about from what I have said and what you know about me.
Don't know? Not sure? Do you think you maybe somewhat inaccurate in your answer.
Actually it's, Daniel, as in Daniel and the lions den. Now some of you may have worked out that it was going to be Biblical. Some of you me even have worked out that it was going to be about Daniel (unlikely). But why Daniel?

Daniel has always been a bit of a mystery to me, there was one thing that I never understood. He was a man after God. He would not eat meat sacrificed to false Gods. He would not worship the Persian King and furthermore he continued to worship and pray to God at the potential cost of his life. A man obviously sold out for God, who would not bend or fuzz the lines just to get a good result. In short a man obedient to Gods word no matter what the cost, and so to my dilemma and confusion, why oh why oh why would a man like this consult the stars i.e. astrology, if the bible says not to. Which is what he clearly does.
Yesterday my wife and I were discussing Astrology and the fact that if used correctly can be accurate, not forgetting however that the bible says not to consult the stars! Or does it?

More on this soon........

America

Well, after some deliberation, it's happening, we are off to America, yesterday we bought the tickets and we are off in August for 4 weeks. Feels somewhat unreal, I never really felt any want or need to go to America, and this trip was only organised to help some friends, but now that it is a done deal, I am starting to feel something stirring inside me, and I believe it has something to do with my own and my family's destiny. I believe it is connected with the change I was talking about last month. There are some things happening in my family life that appear to be converging, and a change of some large proportion is on the cusp. Destiny can be a very strange thing, one can not see it, but one can recognise the start of it.
I have had several prophecies from God regarding my future, prophecies that made little sense at the time. Now a sense of beginning is taking place.
Praise God, in him my destiny is assured.

Dolby

I am right now listening to Thomas Dolby's last album, such a great writer, the four albums he did were all very different, but all owed something to their predecessors, it reminds me of the gigs I used to go to in the town and country club in kentish town. A fabulous venue, which has now become The Forum (the original cinema name). Quite often we get rid of the old just because it's old. New and old need to go hand in hand, they are apart of each other and are of equal importance. The old Town and country club is no more, long live The new Forum.

Gaston

My wife posed the question on one of her blogs: "Which is your favorite Disney villain to be at a party"
I Love Gaston, which is kind of odd as he is the sort of bloke I detested in school, there is something about him though that is endearing, perhaps it's just the song he sings, which is of course all about him. A typical rugby git if ever I saw one, all the teachers thought they were great, when in fact they were utter and complete total ba...... to anyone that didn't fit in with them.
Ah well, I would still love to play his part in some drama production.