Prayer and/or Action

I think one of the major frustrations many people have is the prayer but no action scenario. I've heard many people (Christian and non alike) complain about it. Which has got me thinking.

Two biggest characters in the New Testament; Jesus and Paul.

Jesus - "I only do what I see my Father do." From which I shall take a small leap to suggest He prayed a fair amount because He did rather a lot of stuff (you fill in the blanks... ).

Paul - "I pray more than the rest of you." Says the man who wrote two thirds of the new testament and did more to shape Christianities theology than any other human sans God in flesh. And I think he found time to work and make himself useful when he wasn't starting riots.

Now I suspect that both of these characters had a pretty decent balance of prayer and action. In much the same way faith without deeds is useless I imagine that for many people prayer without action is useless too.

Now obviously there are caveats to this. If you are in prison or unable to walk or suffer from various things that make going and doing things problematic / impossible then I wholeheartedly understand that prayer is probably your action. But sadly I suspect the majority of us don't fall into that camp.

If we were to think of prayer as being in relationship with God, then we probably should do a bit more of the second greatest commandment - love your neighbour as ourself. Which I think would solve the prayer versus action debate which so frustrates so many.

Maybe I am being too simplistic but I really don't think the gospel, Jesus, life is supposed to be as complicated as we so often make it.

Shall save the who is my neighbour debate for another time.

Lord teach me to pray. Lord teach me to act.

Silence then a Flurry of Activity

I feel like my life has a theme which goes something like "quiet" then "busy, busy, busy" and repeat ad nauseum.

Having hardly blogged for months, I find myself doing two in two days.

My songwriting feels a bit like that at the moment.

As does house buying.

And work.

Life.

Today I have been working on a new project which I will end up sharing at some point, although right now it's not appropriate.

In the background I have "It's Not Enough" by Dustin Kensrue playing. My beautiful wife amused me no end when she commented upon the song "why so angry Dustin?". Safe to say our musical loves are sometimes poles apart. But I will win her over on this one, cue maniacal laughter.

And so ends today's random blog. Ta ta.

The Assumption

So my wife pulled me up on something this week. She shared some things that had been on her mind for a while and my response was 'let's pray'.

On the face of it a positive and spiritual response. God points to me.

However it wasn't that simple. She then pointed out that the way I was talking made a rather large and wholly wrong assumption that she hadn't prayed about said thing. I realised that sometimes in my trying to be Godly it comes across as suggesting that others are less so and forgotten all about the Almighty and interactions with Him. Minus points to me.

Assuming my wife hasn't prayed is very stupid, she is a deeply spiritual person(whether she would describe it like that is another matter entirely). I think part of the reason I was and am so attracted to her is the way in which Christ is at work in her and how she very simply allows that outworking in her life. I can and do learn a lot from her.

So avoid assumptions, they make an ass out of you and mptions. Instead work on how to build one another up. I think there's a bible verse about that somewhere (God points to me and sarcastic minus points to me too). Sometines relationships need the asking of questions, sometimes they need quietness and open arms. Knowing what to offer and when is a true skill.

And before anyone gets worried, I am not saying that we shouldn't pray, in many respects we need to pray more. However, I am learning not to assume others have or have not prayed.

The Joy of Parents

Some close friends have just become parents and of course the question of when will this happen in my happy lil world arises. Not that this is what I want to talk about, parenthood will come all in good time.  I have yet again been reminded of the miracle and marvel that is parents.

In our seemingly increasing broken society I know that for someone to have two sets of parents who aren't divorced is a miracle. I count myself blessed and thank God for my parents and my in-laws. For the last two and a bit years they have been amazing. Giving us space to make a life for ourselves. But also being there when we need help or an ear, a soldering iron or plastering a hole in the ceiling. It's a hard balancing act but they do it so well.

I am not entirely sure what has prompted this, maybe it's just amn excuse to not do the washing up. Or perhaps I'm feeling nostalgic while I sit on the sofa and play guitar. I remember years spent sitting on my bed singing my heart out until a holler from downstairs cut through my "din" usually to say they'd heard that song enough or it was dinner time!

So in short, tres grateful for Mr and Mrs Thomas and Mr and Mrs Connolly.

2 weeks in and 3 lbs gone

Wednesday evening is weigh in. I've lost another pound, so that's 3 lbs in 2 weeks. Which isn't a shabby start.

New Music, New Me...

I've got my hands on three new albums, two courtesy of my gorgeous wife and one from noisetrade. Paramore, Bastille and Paper Route.

They are my current sound tracks. And they are jolly good.

Later on this evening we will be celebrating the gorgeous one's birthday. I am so very blessed, I rarely have the words to express it. This is a cause of frustration for me, especially as I feel that I have got worse at being able to express myself in the last year or so. Maybe it's the nature of satisfaction. Maybe it's my laziness. It gives me something to ponder and work on nonetheless.

Another thing that is blessed is my waistline, possibly overindulged. Need to try on my tuxedo to check that it still fits. Whatever the results the diet begins on Wednesday. The 5-2 diet. All I know is that on those two days I am going to need a lot of grace and willpower!

A New Band Deserves A New Blog

Before you start fretting it's okay, it isn't what you think.

Seven months ago the vicar asked if I'd consider leading worship at the morning service. After thought, prayer and a couple of conversations we decided to give it a go.

So this morning I fore went the usual highness of St As and trooped down to St Ms with my acoustic guitar in hand. I'll admit I was a tad nervous. We'd had a practice on Friday night which was a tad different to my usual band practices but positive none the less.

After a "fraught" start with trying to get a million sets of music books ready (not aided by forgetting to make a song list for everyone!) and we were ready. We rattled through Be Thou My Vision. Amusingly the vicar was running late so we finished the pre service song before they were ready. And from there it flew by,  and pretty nicely too.

I'm now sitting outside church five hours later as I'm about to play electric guitar at the evening service.

Fun.

I am blessed.