Revelation

No not the book, I mean I've just had some revelation on scripture. A blindingly obvious one.
Here's the scripture.

Ephesians 5

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."^[c] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Here's the revelation:

My relationship with my wife has been seriously out of wak, for many reasons that I am not going to mention as they are way too personal.

What I am specifically talking about is: "Husbands love your wives as Christ loves the Church"

This is a huge statement, just consider how Christ feels about His people and what he did for them.

His love has no bounds, He did what ever was necessary to protect his people. His people are His love and His passion, no other can take His place.

Yes, that's right He was willing to die, He was willing to put them first, and He did!

There is lot more I could say on this matter, but I will leave you men to consider it for yourselves.

The women out there can also consider what is said in the rest of the scripture.

They are all huge statements, not to be taken lightly, but to be given the utmost consideration and attention!

Strength

Where does our strength lie?
What will it stand up to?
How long before it fails?

If my strength is in my own ability then it will fail as I am finite and therefore so is my strength.
This is something I have known for many years but recently come to experience in a more acute and personal way. I have been battling with my own weaknesses and have found that I have come up short of my own expectations. Maybe they have been unrealistic expectations, but I have found that we all have unreasonable and unattainable pedestals that we have put ourselves and each other on!
I can not achieve these heights, and that, I sometimes find difficult to accept, particularly in regard to my marriage.

There is only one perfection that I know of, and He is my strength, and one who I must learn to rely on more and more.

Fear and Wisdom

Obviously fear can be a good thing, it stops us from doing stupid things, like putting our hand in the fire! It informs us that what we are about to do is likely to be harmful to us.
Fear however when it controls us, and stops us from being who we are, obviously is not good!
So having no fear in our lives is a good thing, but there is a problem, no fear means nothing to guide us. We need something to inform us to guide us into making the right decision.
That thing is wisdom - when in possession of information, we need to know how to act and react so that it will have the best possible outcome.
I am not so good at this. I tend to move straight to pain! That is I am in possession of information that is important to my life, but fail to use wisdom, I am aware (at least on some level) that the problem could well lead to pain for myself and my family, and I have no fear of it! It does not control my actions and thoughts. If I did succumb to fear it would certainly have a negative effect on me. Who I am as an individual would cease to be and now fear would become my master. Wisdom is what I am lacking. Having Wisdom as my master sounds a lot better than fear, don't you think?

Close (instramental)

Hope

Hope can sound like a very week emotion, it is used most often in a wishful way - I hope this will happen or I hope things will turn out ok. It all sounds so desperate, like wishing on a star.
The Hope in Christ is not the same. It is in truth the knowledge that Christ stands for us and that our destiny is with Him. Our Hope is eternal and never changing, it is safe in His hands, it can not be lost and is unshakable.
When everything around us is being attacked, when it all looks lost, when it seems there is nowhere to go, there is God! In the midst of it all. He may let us go to our lowest point, but no matter how it appears, He is for us, His Hope in us and for us is assured.

Psalm 42

Prayer To Be Home Safe Again

1 As the deer desires rivers of water, so my soul desires You, O God.
2 My soul is thirsty for God, for the living God. When will I come and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
4 These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with many people and lead them to the house of God, with the voice of thankful joy, among the many happy people.
5 Why are you sad, O my soul? Why have you become troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will praise Him again for His help of being near me.
6 O my God, my soul is troubled within me. So I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the tops of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Sea calls to sea at the sound of Your waterfalls. All Your waves have rolled over me.
8 The Lord will send His loving-kindness in the day. And His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why do I have sorrow because those who hate me come against me with power?"
10 As a breaking of my bones, those who hate me speak sharp words to me. All day long they say to me, "Where is your God?"
11 Why are you sad, O my soul? Why have you become troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my help and my God.

Reputation

It is said in scripture that Jesus made of himself no reputation. This of course is not to say that he didn't have one, only that he made very few declaration of who he was, he let His actions speak for Him.
Even though he walked among the Pharisees and Sadducee's (the religious leaders of the time), He was condemned by them for His every action, yet his only motivation was to serve God, to bring freedom peace and love and definitely not to bring condemnation. There is no condemnation for those in Christ!
Those who sow condemnation and accusation in others merely reap it in their own lives (you reap what you sow). The Pharisees and Sadducee's wanted to control people and God with rules and regulations and they judged them when they didn't adhere to these rules. Finally they killed God!
Do not judge or you will be judged. It is Gods right to judge, no one else's. If we seek God in truth and love then whatever we do in truth and love is acceptable to God.
So, we have a choice, do we accept the move of God or do we, like the Pharisees judge and decide that we do not recognise God in someone’s actions because it doesn't fit our picture of God, it doesn't adhere to what we believe God would do or say. How presumptuous and arrogant of us to believe that we know how God moves.
Jesus seeked unity with all, but when they accused and denied the move of God in Him, He rebuked them.
Unity is vital in the Kingdom of God, but when it is rejected then the time has come to shake the dust from your shoes and leave. It is not possible to be in unity with someone that doesn't want to be in unity with you.
The Pharisees are still among us today, let us not be one of them. Let us be unified with each other in truth and love. Amen

Thanks

A Big thank you to everyone we met in the USA. Everyone was very helpful and generous and could not have made myself and my family feel more welcomed.
To those of you I gave a cd, hope you like it and remember to feel free to make as many copies as you like.