Starting Now

My church has a dream. It is called Levi House. It was started by a group of people with a heart for the homeless. The aim of Levi House is to "Provide a safe & effective refuge for Launceston's homeless".

This is a large long-term dream. The facility is yet to be constructed. The finance does not yet exist to make this dream a reality. The thing that impresses me about the people behind this ministry is that they have already started.

Many of us have dreams. This is good. I believe it is important for us to dream big and allow God to grow our faith by placing lofty goals in our hearts. This gives us something to strive for, something to work toward. Dreams like this give us reason to get up in the morning.

Sometimes however, we can fall into the trap of thinking that because the goal of making that dream a reality is so far off in the distance that we fail to take any action now. The team behind Levi House are doing more than talking. They are not just waiting for the opportunity to present itself. Seeing the need that exists in our community, they could not sit by and do nothing. They have not yet made the dream a complete reality, but they are doing what they can; right now. Homeless people are put up in motels or caravans (our church is situated next door to a caravan park) and now, people are volunteering their time to care for homeless people of an evening, giving them a place to stay within our church facility.

Often when we have these dreams we can make a start straight away. It may just be a small thing, but it is a first step and it will lead to greater things. It's like Jesus said in Luke 16:10. "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." The Levi House team are certainly being faithful with what they have, and I have no doubt that God will make their complete dream a reality in His time.

Another couple in my church took a step of faith and become involved in a short mission trip to Africa. That has now led to them running an organisation called Villages of Hope; which provides housing for widows and orphans in Burundi, which could be described as the poorest country in the world.

These people have not allows the grand dream to cripple them into inaction, they have allowed it to inspire them to begin, one step at a time, and amazing things have grown as a result.

People like these inspire me. It is through their example that God has challenged me today with this message. I hope it challenges you too.

References
Scripture taken from The HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright (C) 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers

http://www.levihouse.org.au/

http://www.villagesoflife.org/

Chloe Sign Language

Chloe has been learning a lot of interesting things at childcare. The latest thing she has been learning is sign language. I was quite suprised when I read about it on her room's door. When we got home I asked her about it and she immediately showed me how to say "toilet", "stop" and "no" in sign language.

Not bad for a three year old!

High Calling

The Collings Zone has recently been listed on highcallingblogs.com. This is a community of Christian blogs, with a special emphasis on living out our faith in our daily life and work. I have been receiving their "Faith in the Workplace" e-newsletter for a while now. It contains some interesting articles that are well worth a read.

Harrison Speaks

Harrison is beginning to clearly say several words. They are more than sounds because he clearly understands their meaning. Over the last couple of days he has said "Mummy" and "Harry". I believe I have also heard him say "Daddy" though not quite as clearly.
Not only does he speak, but he points and gets very excited. He has also become very good at waving. He always waves goodnight to us from his cot when we put him to bed.

In God's Confidance

The Lord confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.
Psalm 25:14

Most of us probably have verses that we have circled or underlined in our Bibles. The ones we read and say "hey this is cool. I must come back to this one." Psalm 25:14 is one of those verses circled in my Bible. I found it the other day. I couldn't remember circling it, but when I read I thought to myself all over again "wow this is cool."

The verse talks about how God will confide in those who fear him - as a friend. We often confide in God, telling him our secrets and discussing the things that are troubling us; but this verse makes it clear that God has things that he wants to confide in us about. That idea is quite exciting to me.

So who does God confide in? This verse states that it is 'those who fear him'. The fear of God is a term that Christians have struggled with for ages. I like the way that the NIV Study Bible notes describes the fear of God: "Those who honour God and order their lives in accordance with his will because of their reverence for him (1)." I like this explanation because it talks of honouring and respecting God, but also of ordering our lives according to God's will. Fear of God is more than just respecting Him, fear requires a response. If we truly fear God then we will be changing the course we plot for our life, based on His will and His values.

There are examples in the Bible where God has confided in those who feared Him. In Genesis 18, God was planning to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He chooses to share his plans with Abraham, and even allowed Abraham to argue it out with Him. This passage reads like God going to Abraham as a king might go to his advisors. To me, that is an amazing concept. The perfect infalible King of the universe was interested in the opinion of a mere human. "Then the Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?'"(Gen 18:17)

God also confided in Job. "Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house" (Job 29:4.) This phrase, "God's intimate friendship blessed my house" literally means "God's council was in my tent" or "God was an intimate in my tent." (2)

I found studying these verses to be a very inspiring challenge. So, may we all "order our lives according to God's will, out of our deep reverence for Him." You never know, He might just have something that he wants to confide in us about.

(1) The NIV Study Bible. Copyright (C) 1985 by The Zondervan Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Study note on Psalm 15:4

(2) The NIV Study Bible. Copyright (C) 1985 by The Zondervan Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Study note on Job 29:4

Scripture taken from The HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright (C) 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers