No Greater Love!!!

TREATMENT

ACT I

It was a sunshine filled morning but the air still smelled of smoke and rubble and probably charred human. This morning though, in its amalgamation of glory and terror was special. US Army Major General Luke McGarret and his son US Navy Lieutenant Commander Matthew McGarret were situated at the same Army base after a joined effort to fight of attacks at base the night before. They met for breakfast. It had been 6 months since they last saw each other back home in Pensacola, Florida and it was 2 months until they head back. Luke admired his son for his courage showed through his teen years and now as a lieutenant commander in the Navy. Matthew knew this but he didn’t know that his father was always worried about him. Luke was Thinking of Matthew up in the sky and the danger flying held. Being in the army was dangerous but flying an aircraft 1000s of feet above the ground, flying through attacks, the possibility of your parachute not opening or being shot down even if it did, that is far more dangerous he thought. The two men continue to talk about being home and Luke’s last deployment. Right then the announcement was made over the intercom for the Navy unit to move to the gate in 10 minutes. They had another mission that morning. Luke and Matthew shared a short yet warm good bye and before parting Luke had given Matthew a badge with wings, which had belonged to his great grandfather who was a Brigadier General in the Air Force and died in the Vietnam War. At 12h00 Luke received news that the Unit Matthew was in had been attacked and his aircraft was one of 3 that went down in the dessert on the border between Syria and Turkey. Luke’s unit was called in as a search and rescue team, they were being briefed and waiting for orders to leave. Luke had done all the waiting he could do, his son was out there somewhere and he needed to get to him.

ACT II

Luke left the base with his back pack and riffle and got into one of the HUMVEE. The location the attack took place was not far from where they were situated. As he exited the base he spotted something that looked like a body not too far off in the distance. As he got closer he saw it was a body, that of a soldiers. Luke hurries toward him fearing and hoping that the soldier is his son. He reaches the injured soldier only to find that it isn’t Matthew. The young man is one of the soldiers from Matthew’s unit. The soldier is barely alive. His injuries will never allow him to survive. Luke speaks to him to let him know that someone is there. He asks what happened and if he knows of any survivors more specifically does he know Matthew McGarret. The boy nods but no more. There isn’t much more that he can say though his injuries will not permit him to stay alive until help comes the pain is agonising and a slow death seems inevitable. Luke suffocates the young man to make it easier on him. It’s not the first time he’s had to do that. Being in the service for over 30 years he is quite familiar with how to deal with situations like that. He has a moment of silence for the boy and places the American flag across his chest. It’s something the army guys are familiar with and so carry quite a few in their backpacks on missions. Luke moves out again. 40 minutes later he crossed into a small town just before the supposed place the aircrafts went down. From here he had to move on foot because going any further with a vehicle would leave him open to attack whereas on foot he can be more subtle and virtually invisible if played right.  Luke makes his way through the town. He runs round a corner and quickly dodges a blow to the head. The man attacking him is injured. He has a gunshot wound to his left shoulder and his side. It’s clear to Luke that this man was caught in the cross fire and now just wants to protect his family who are standing close by. The man looks tired and weak but pushes on, he does not give up. After a close encounter Luke is forced to knocking the man unconscious on the head with his gun.  He treads more carefully as he exits the town. He jogs through the desert about a kilometre out of the town and spots a crashed aircraft. Luke’s heart beats as if it’s about to leave his body. This time he is sure it’s Matthew. He reminds himself to breathe and makes his way to the crash site. There he sees Matthew. A deep gash to his thigh but nothing life threatening for this Luke breathes a sigh of relief. Luke runs toward Matthew but stops when he sees the look on his boys face. Matthew was standing on a mine, his body weak for not being able to move for over an hour. To Luke this is impossible as the Army was aware of this area being a minefield and so their specialist had long since cleared the area but Matthew knew about mines and would not have waited all this time for no reason. Luke had had a fair share of dealings with mines and knew how the timing on it for it to go off worked as well as disabling mines. With this being the basis of his argument he persuaded Matthew to change places with him. They would have a 2.5 second opening to change places. After adjusting his gear so his weight would match Matthew’s, Luke counts to 3 and they switch successfully. Luke tells Matthew how far to go from the mine and he obeys. Luke begins working on the mine. He gets to the inner part where the trickiness begins. He turns back to let Matthew know how far he is and what else he has to do. Matthew looks at his father and thanks him and they share a moment only the two of them will ever understand and remember. Luke continues with the mine. He tells Matthew that he has a 3 second window to know if he is successful. He turns back and smiles at his son and moves away. Matthew breathes a sigh of relief and smiles. And then a distant explosion which shakes the ground and sets the mine of again this time Luke looks at his only son and covers his heart with his hand.

ACT III

The moment was surreal. Matthew knew the danger about mines but this was too much. He just witnessed his father dying. He thought of how that could have been him. Matthew had never known heart break but if what he was feeling was anything to go by, he was certain this was it. 20 minutes later a chopper flew down to where he was. They were too late but he understood their respect toward following protocol. The men each distraught by what happened. Everyone at base was familiar with the man General McGarret was. They remembered the way he tried to make the men sure that this was the place for them and that death no matter when or where is like a roaring lion that prowls around the earth seeking whom it may devour and so in the time they have to live they are doing what can be considered the highest honour. They made their way back to the base camp and Matthew telephoned his mother. They shared many memories and talks but none as painful as this. Matthew decided that on his next tour things would be different. He would ask for a transfer. He would become a specialist in the task force and his passion would no longer be flying but mines. The badge from his father, he wore daily, proud to be the son of a man who would give his life gladly.

Stone Heart and a Broken Vessel

It seems that everyone who’s hearts are pure and beautiful become pierced and black around me. My mother, brother, sister… They once were able to love and their love was unmistakable, you could taste it, it had a colour… But now, after years of living in one home I’ve drained them of their colour…

I asked God to send me someone to love, some who could teach me to love and He did. He worked on slowly breaking down walls I took so long to construct. He made my heart soar like it had never done before. But times change and we became comfortable. The soar he once inspired became challenged in strong wind, and the flight was low. What had I done?
His love wasn’t strong enough to break through those icy veins for too long, not strong enough to penetrate my soul and turn my stone heart into one of flesh. I drained his colour.

Have I realised too late that the one I need to turn this heart was one invisible, one so great and majestic? No I haven’t. As long as there is breath in me there is time enough. It was fear of His booming love that kept me away. I could I repay that love. But now I know that I cannot repay it… I can stand in awe. As shattered pieces of a broken vessel, He lifts each piece to put them back together. He seals the brokenness giving the vessel a new wonder but not its former glory. Still useful. Still loved.

*If you, like me and so many others, are a broken vessel today, with a heart of stone, and the belief you don’t deserve love… Think again! YOU DO! And you are! Remember sometimes a change of perspective is good. Jesus is the invisible God who shows His love and promises in each day and waits to love us even more. But love is a choice and the choice belongs to each of us. Only He can turn that stone hear into flesh*

Ezekiel 36:26

Who Are We?

Psalm 139
This psalm has really blessed my heart recently, as have many others but I digress.

At the beginning of every year its like a race day. People all over the world gear up for the 365 day race. Every body plotting, planning, … Dieting. Nevertheless it’s a blank page which has the potential to be filled with the most beautiful story. Some stories have a bitter start and we look forward to a sweet end, others are the complete opposite. This year my story started of with Malachi 3v14-17. Nasty people will get ahead of you in the race and you’ll wonder how and why. How is it that these people who ride on coat-tails, and eat your left overs, jump right over you? Is that God’s will? And every so often your reminded of the sweet, savouring, rewarding taste of just doing things God’s way. But inbetween that, the journey is tough, its rough, and that minor sweet taste seems like forever away.  And in those times (for me at least) I began to wonder who I am? I know who my aunts want me to be, I know who my gran wants me to be, who my mum wants me to be, my siblings, my dad, and just about everyone I know wants something … someone different. And so as the world is thine stage and we but actors I  played these parts but as always disappointment seeps in… Its inevitable really. You can’t please everyone!

I think it’s that, that’s hardest to come to grips with. because that’s what we want to do (well me/ and people like me at least). But its true, and realising that is the 1st step.

2nd we realise who we can and should please – God! Let’s face it. When you understand that He who created little you, created the heavens, the earth, the stars, the sand, and everything you can think of, well yours and my perception should change. But wait he not only created these things… But they’re in/under his control. Scripture says He is above all things, He knows all things, He controls all things, is over all things, He knows your thoughts, He controls the heavenly beings and the demonic ones… and so much more.
So who then should we please?
Tough decision?

3rdly who are you? Find out who you are and what you’re about without everyone else around you! And based soley on psalm 139 I’m going to suggest that those Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (BIBLE) will play a significant role?

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“That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
– Heb_12:27

We have many things in our possession at the present moment which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man to set much store by them, for there is nothing stable beneath these rolling skies; change is written upon all things. Yet, we have certain “things which cannot be shaken,” and I invite you this evening to think of them, that if the things which can be shaken should all be taken away, you may derive real comfort from the things that cannot be shaken, which will remain. Whatever your losses have been, or may be, you enjoy present salvation. You are standing at the foot of his cross, trusting alone in the merit of Jesus’ precious blood, and no rise or fall of the markets can interfere with your salvation in him; no breaking of banks, no failures and bankruptcies can touch that. Then you are a child of God this evening. God is your Father. No change of circumstances can ever rob you of that. Although by losses brought to poverty, and stripped bare, you can say, “He is my Father still. In my Father’s house are many mansions; therefore will I not be troubled.” You have another permanent blessing, namely, the love of Jesus Christ. He who is God and Man loves you with all the strength of his affectionate nature-nothing can affect that. The fig tree may not blossom, and the flocks may cease from the field, it matters not to the man who can sing, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his.” Our best portion and richest heritage we cannot lose. Whatever troubles come, let us play the man; let us show that we are not such little children as to be cast down by what may happen in this poor fleeting state of time. Our country is Immanuel’s land, our hope is above the sky, and therefore, calm as the summer’s ocean; we will see the wreck of everything earth born, and yet rejoice in the God of our salvation.

Charles Spurgeon

A Feeling of Blue

Recently all I can think of is that I’m not enough. I know these aren’t good thoughts and I know they are not of God so of course I pray about it. Now I’m not looking for sympathy or even encouraging comments. Deep down I know with all that is within me that what God creates is good and perfect in His sight but sometimes the world successfully tells you otherwise and causes you to doubt.

As my relationship with Christ grew, I’ve lost many relationships along the way. This doesn’t hurt me as much as much as one may think. Those friends I had in school wanted another type of life, one that was not fitting for a princess in the King’s Kingdom. What hurt most is the change in my family. As my life changed, there were things I could no longer do, say, think… and this to them was me being too righteous. I suppose those boundaries can be crossed and were crossed by me as I was learning how to be. All this was so new to me. I’ve always been the people pleaser. I lived to just make my family and teachers proud, but suddenly I was so different and this didn’t make them proud anymore. It’s since then that I feel myself fighting for ways to just fit in and be accepted though not to the point of giving up this new love. And then those feelings of inadequacy creep in, whispering to me “you’re not enough for them”, “look how happy they are without you”, “see how the mood changes when you are there”. And I know, I know, I know this is all just in my head. But sometimes those voices sound like they know what they’re talking about.

For the longest time I just ignored those voices until recently. I met a guy. The guy I’m very confident I’ll spend my life with. The guy I know God sent into my life to love me and to teach me what on my own I could not learn. And the voices I know could no longer ignore. They began to scream at me: “he knows who he is, do you know who you are”, “he can build you up, is there anything you can do for him”, “he has a ministry, you don’t even know what God has called you to do”, “that girl who likes him can sing and he could play the music to which she can sing, all you are going to do is stand there”… and again I know the truth but when Satan mixes the truth with all his lies it really seems so much more real. I know I am loved and I don’t believe I have a low self-esteem BUT I’m in a place right now that is causing me to be unsure of what’s good about me as opposed to others. Please tell me that everyone goes through this in their relationships?

I have a feeling of blue and blue right now is this. I have no remedy right now for anyone feeling what I’m feeling; I guess we’ll just go through it together. But I do know that the more time I spend with Christ the less I feel inadequate and the more I begin to know who I am. Not who I am because everyone likes that me but who I am as in who God has created. It’s a long journey of which I’ve only just begun… again!

Shall i take it to the grave?

A good read and something to think about.

Stephanie Sian

True; everybody lives and everybody dies at some point. Unknown is what lies beyond the grave, another life, the fiery flames of hell or the white pearly gates and streets of gold in heaven. In a poem called Death the leveller, James Shirley says “Death lays his icy hand on kings: Scepter and Crown must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made with the poor crooked scythe and spade” , reminding us that in death we are all made equal even with that of kings. What we can be certain of in death is that we take nothing with us, not our money, not our cars, not our clothes, or children, or friends, nothing? What interests me however, is though we cannot take any material possessions with us to the grave and beyond, what of that in our hearts and minds? Those secrets never told.

My Uncle’s…

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Choose Life!

Easy peasy lemon squeezey,
Who said life was easy.
You rolled the dice,
You did the dance,
You don’t live twice,
You took a chance.
He laughs,
It haunts.
Shiver and shake,
He’s got you now,
Nowhere to hide,
No time to bide,
It’s him or life.
It’s time to dance,
It’s a choice you chance,
Or a chance to be dead.
Dead in life,
Or dead in death,
You’re still dead in all.

Sometimes it feels as though life is a game and all you do is a roll a dice, and where it falls determines your next move. It can be suffocating at times, as though the devil sits on your shoulder and laughs. Just when you learn to trust and something happens to shake you, he’s there to laugh. When you give your heart to something or someone you believe in and something happens to stir some doubt, he’s there to laugh at you. You take a chance and fail, he’s there to laugh. It just seems as though no matter what you do, as long as things take a turn for the worst, the devil is there to laugh at you. Sometimes he’s there to offer a way out or something seemingly better. But take note; we are in a war! And only one side can come out victorious. It takes a measure of courage to stand up and fight and it take an even greater measure to stand apart and remain. Be encouraged. The One who has victory, the One who will reward you when this life is over; is the One for whom we fight.

“You said ‘it is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evil doers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’’’
Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honoured his name. “They will be mine,” says the LORD Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” (Emphasis added, mine)
Malachi 3: 14- 18

 

What on earth are you doing for Heaven’s sake?

I was watching a DVD this weekend, in which Dr. argues science with science. He basically argues why the evolution theory is, well… bullocks! All of what was said was very interesting but one thing in specific caught all of my attention. This could mean I don’t have a very good attention span, I’m having a midlife crisis, or it actually is a pertinent point; but that’s for you to decide.

He said that “all we have when we die is a dash between our dates”. We take  nothing more with us and even what we make out of that dash is left behind. But unlikely to be forgotten. I personally have made the choice to give my dash to Jesus, in faith that He will use me for His glory.  What will you use your dash for? Working toward saving the planet? Visiting and old age home every year? Visiting an orphanage? Whatever you choice I’m sure that’s nice. But the question we should ask ourselves is, is it enough? Is it enough just to pay an annual visit? Is there more I can do? Is there anything I can sacrifice for someone else every so often?

I look around and I see more pain and suffering than joy. I’m comforted in knowing I have a Saviour, who from the very start said nothing about smooth sailing. Who said I should rejoice in my suffering and I have been comforted by His Word. But there are many who do not have that privilege yet, or any privilege at all of knowing that someone cares. I’m not saying that all of our lives should be devoted to caring for others but I am saying that there is some space for a little selflessness.

Apart from that though, what will your little dash be filled with? When you sit down one day and ponder on how your life was spent, will you have regrets? That, I understand, is a difficult question, as we seldom do things that in that moment we think we will regret. But I suppose thinking of it may help us evaluate how we use this time up a little more carefully.

Here’s to a happy and fulfilled life.

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“This above all; to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day. Then though canst not be untrue to any man”

-William Shakespeare-

“the only truth is who you are. Letting anyone else compromise that truth, is suicide of the worst kind”

-Not sure who-

Just a thought

“They do not love that do not show their love”
-William Shakespeare-

I don’t believe I’m one of those mushy, sensitive, googoo gaga type of people that go on and on about love and its power, and how important it is BUT… It is! The more I grew in Christ the more I began to realise that love is not a monster crouching outside my door, waiting to pounce and tear my heart apart.

Nevertheless it is still difficult to show affection and love overtly. And the I read the above quote by Shakespeare and it made much sense to me. How will anyone know that you love them if you’re unable to show it?

I say; don’t let doubt and fear get in the way, whether in love or life. Walk by faith.

“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”
-Willaim Shakespeare-