Because you are worth it

Today came the news of the release of Giliad Shalit, the Istaeli soldier who was captured by Hamas back in 2006. His release came as part of a deal that involved releasing more than 1000 Palestinian.

As I heared the news, I wondered how he feels, apart from the obvious relief, sence of freedom and the longing to see his family. How do you feel if you know that your life is worth more than a 1000’s others? With a simple calculation, every small bone in Shalit’s body is worth 5 people. Most importantly, how do the other 1000 men feel about their worth and their value?

Where we live, how we live and who we live with give us our self-value whether we are aware of that or not. But it was never like that from the start. God created us equal, men and women, black or white. There was no difference. We were all made in his image. We then started to group ourselves based on our wealth, education, status, resources etc.

One prisoner is worth a 1000? Or 1000 prisoners are worth nothing? Politics decided that today. But on a day to day basis, we judge ourselves all the time in the same way.

How do we see ourselves? Because no matter how our governments, our friends, our families and our neighbours see us, we are still highly valued by the almighty creator. We are all still equal in his eyes, rich or poor, famous or unknown, men or women, able or incompetent.

I believe that I was wonderfully and fearfully made by almighty God that it is why I am worth it,

What about you?

A go on the slide anyone?

Some things could be so much fun but you need to see where
it all leads.
Could be all as innocent as going on the slide (just like this little boy) but sure it will end in tears (or shredded body parts).

Things can sometimes 'slide' out of control, we cant stop it. We say the wrong thing, we make the wrong turn or decision. We stay so determined that we are right and the other is wrong and we loose it all at the end. We let things "slide" out of control and out of our hands. Relationship deteriorate for not wanting to back down when we still can and then we suffer the consequences. We say an unkind thing, we make bad comments, we sneer at a friend, we enjoy some gossip, the list is endless.
 And yet, in every situation, there is always a window where we can go back and save the relationship, the job, the situation etc. There is always a point of "return" (comes before the point of "no return"), once we pass this, then it is too late to save the situation and we have to suffer the consequences.

So ...do you know when to stop?

Now you see it.....now you don't

Today, I had a big task at work, to clear my electronic data from my computer. I wrote about this last week and today was the day that I had to move all my electronic files, folders etc. Where do you start, I have endless number of documents, lots of drafts and final documents, some duplication and some just back up files. Some I worked on long time ago and some are as recent as last week. I had lots of things already organised in big folders (yes, I am not totally hopeless) but I still felt overwhelmed by the task at hand.


So, I decided to do this in a tidy and organised fashion (OK, OK, no need to laugh) I decided to do it the quick way. I created a new folder and called "work old PC" and then moved everything to it, just as they are. 'I will look into them later' I told myself. The files were so big and took a long time to be transferred to my external drive but it was done at the end. Then with one click I deleted the folder from the main computer after it was transferred. Just like that, one click, one button and it was all gone. More than 8 years of work, research and teaching just gone from the PC, as if I was never there. All you can see on the old PC was my log in name.

There is a book on Amazon called "Now you see it, now you don't: lessons in sleight of hand" by Bill Tarr. Shows you how to do magic tricks and when I deleted the files it felt like that, a magic wand that cleared everything. Then I thought, what if we can do that in real life. Just one click and the problem is gone, one button and 'done' pain deleted. But if we can do that, then we have to be able to run the risk of deleting the good things by mistake or accident. I don't really fancy backing up my relationship in 3 different ways like I do with my documents in case they get lost. I am confident in the love, support and friendships that I have and am sure they can not be lost by mistake, or with a click of a button. As much as I would like for the bad things to be taken away, I know that God in his wisdom is writing the story of my life, weaving it all, dark colours and bright ones, all together to make a wonderful complete picture.

Enjoy life with all its ups and down, no back up and no system crashes, invest in what matters as when it is all said and done only two things remain, your faith and your relationships.

Beware, Christians approaching!

I tuned in to listen to a program on a Christian radio station and just before it was about to start, there was an announcement that said: “the following program contains material that may let you reflect on your life style”. The program was on how our diaries reflect our priorities and commitment to different things. It also did ask the question: where is God in our busy lives. However, the interesting point was in that early “warning” before the program started (it certainly felt like a warning). Do we now need a notification on a Christian radio stations before hearing God’s word? that we are actually about to listen to God’s ways being preached? Or are we so worried about offending people or saying things that do not conform with their life styles? If we are going to do that we should have a warning on every printed bible; “this book may actually change your whole life, you may be living in peace, you may be saved for eternity and you may actually start to love your neighbours as yourself”. And what about going to church: “becoming part of this community may lead to a real fellowship, less gossip and spiritual fulfilment, beware!” I may have read too much into that little announcement, but Jesus was also clear from the beginning, he did say that it will be a hard and narrow road walking with him (Mathew 7: 14) and that in this world will have troubles (John 16: 33), but the biggest promise is that he himself will be there every step of the way. So if we are going to put warnings up about Christian values, let us put the promises there too.