When I was a kid I had a wild imagination!
I would dream of being all sorts of things, but I had a particular favourite...
I dreamed of being an astronaut.
My toys included rockets, star wars ships and figures...anything to do with 'space' was alright by me.
When it came time to do some 'creative writing' at primary school I generally only wrote about my space adventures. In fact my first song I ever wrote was called the 'Spaceship'

Then something happens to your life. You get older!
And people start telling you, that you have to stop imaginning silly things, like going to space and get a 'real' job.
Essentially they are telling you to grow up and stop pretending.

But I have noticed a funny paradox here. Most of us still pretend.

I used to be a Salesman as part of one of my jobs I used to do.
My boss would regularly try to tell me to pretend.
To pretend I knew what I as talking about when I didn't. To pretend I had done something before when I hadn't.
People wear makeup to pretend they look different to what they really do (please don't stone me!).
We get operations to make ourselves look different to what we really look like.
And sometimes we pretend to have life all sorted out, so that we won't look weak to someone else???

There is one place you don't need to pretend....and this is with God.
What is the point of pretending with God? He knows eveything. He knows all about our lives.
And there is huge safety in that! You can go to God not having to pretend anymore.
God accepts you as you are, not who you think you should be.

1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

One thing I take great comfort from, is knowing I can go to God at anytime and talk to him honestly about where I am at. So can I encourage you to always be honest with God. Let him more into the real life you are living this week....
He cares and he wants to help!

Over my ‘christian’ lifetime I have tried to keep learning.
Initially it was mostly for me. I wanted to understand what this whole ‘being a christian thing’ was all about. I wasn’t ever happy with just saying I was one, I wanted to know why I was one.

I have found most people are the same. They don’t naturally choose to be confused about what we believe, they don’t choose to not understand.
You see this most of all in people who have just made the decision to become disciples.

The other day I was sitting in the lounge early in the morning trying to read my Bible when Jack came in.
Basically my reading was shot…but in a good way.
Jack wanted to read what I was reading and he picked Matthew to start.
He started to read how Jesus was born, which brought up questions.

“Daddy, how does God make babies?” was his first question, which he attempted to answer himself. He said that God does magic. He wiggles his fingers and says a special phrase and all of a sudden there is a baby.

Now he was actually right to some degree.
But I wanted to help him understand a little better, so we looked up Genesis 1:1.
It simply talks about God speaking and then it happens. No need for God to wiggle fingers, he is all poweful and can do anything.

We then went to Psalm 139 and I showed him the passage about God knitting us together in our mothers womb.
He loved it! Talked about how God knitted his ears and how God made him from the tip of his head to his toes.

God wants us to PASS
Pass on to others what we have learnt, what we have found from Him.
Especially his Words, which are way more prowerful and have more authority than our opinions.
Under the Old Covenant, Moses passed on the words he got from God to the people. (Acts 7:38)
Under the New Covenant, we all are called to Pass the Word of God on.

1 Corinthians 11:2
I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.

So what is my point?
Very simply, we need to pass on what we have to others…and the Word of God is the easiest to pass on. It is the most important to pass on. It is the most powerful ‘word' to pass on.It takes the pressure off us to personally to have every answer for every situation.

Simply trust that whatever you read and study from his word...he will bring out of you just when it is needed.

I regularly sit at a set of traffic lights waiting my turn in Manurewa.
It is like most other intersections in Auckland. Mad rush in the mornings. Most people looking tired, or grumpy or both!
But this intersection has these little areas they call 'bus lanes'. They are marked very clearly with signs on poles plus the road has this crazy green coloured seal on it.
You are probably wondering why I am telling this?

Well, those little bus lane make me grumpy. No it is not the bus lanes itself, it is the cheeky people who cue jump the rest of us and use them when they know they shouldn't. I sit there looking at them, thinking how I would like to do something that would 'punish' them or whatever.
If I am not careful I start to get angry. I start talking out loud about how rude they are....
I think you get the picture.

The problem is, is that all my ranting and raving, my getting upset...doesn't effect them in the slightest.
They don't even know about how unhappy I am. I am in my car...they are in theirs.

Today it happened again!
Plus someone ran a red light in front of me.
Plus someone cut me off on the motorway, while talking on their cellphone!

But today I tried something different. I said under my breath that I forgive them.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they really didn't mean to annoy me. And that felt much better.
Instead of arriving at work in a grump. I arrived chilled out.
Maybe there is something to this forgiveness thing that applies to simple everyday life...not just the big things.

The bible talks a lot about forgiving one another. God knew that it would an issue for us all our lives, and so reminds us about it again and again.
He tells us this because he knows if we let this stuff on top of us, that it will damage us...not necessarily the person we need to forgive.
He tells us this because he knows it could cause us to harden our hearts towards each others.

So the next time those 'little' things happen that could wind you up...
How about forgiving, letting it go...and maybe you will have a much better day?

When I was at school there was some specific things that I didn't really enjoy very much...
For many of you, you will probably relate to this.
It was when it came time for 'picking teams'...

Yes, I was one of those kids that nobody wanted on their team.
Either they thought I wasn't fast enough or cool enough or strong enough.
But thinking back I wasn't that bad. It was just how they saw me.

When you are standing there in that situation it is horrible.
The is the dread of being picked last, which isn't really getting picked, it's just you are left over and you have to go somewhere.

While sitting in a staff meeting this week a scripture came up that reminded me of this in a good way.
No it didn't make me depressed.
It reminded me that as an adult at one time someone picked me for a team, and I wasn't the last one picked!
Someone picked me because they wanted me.
They could see that I was special.
They could see that I had something to offer.
They wanted me on their team because I could be in the game...and matter!

Ephesians 4:11-12
11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Now I have read this scripture a few times before. Except this time I saw something different.
It talks about 'God's People', it talks about the 'Body'.
It isn't talking about a special sect or priviliged few. It is all encompassing. Meaning all of us are included in the statement.
You have been picked for the team. All of us have a role we can play.

Leaders are there not to just pick people. Leaders are there to equip us to be part of the team.
No one misses out. No one is picked last!

Elsewhere in scripture it says that "we didn't choose God, he chose us"

God has picked you for His team.

Last week I started praying for something...
To be honest, I was asking for something, but at the same time wanting to see if it was something God wanted me to do.
Maybe I was really setting a 'fleece' as we sometimes call it? (Judges 6:37-40)

After one week of talking to God about this thing...things started to happen.
The phone went. Opportunities that didn't exist before came up. Things that weren't even possible a week a go now seem possible.

Of course this has an effect on you!

It reminds you again that Prayer works! That asking God is a good thing to do.
It humbles you to think that what you pray might affect you and those around you.
It tells you again that God is real and that he loves you.

A scripture comes to mind:

James 5:16 (niv)
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective

We sometimes think that to have prayer answered we must be 'righteous' like it says above.
But we add that we aren't really righteous. That we are not good enough to be righteous...so therefore our prayers will never do much, never affect anything.
The true meaning of this scripture is then lost.

You are RIGHTEOUS!
When you accept Christ into your life you get the whole package.
Christ's righteousness becomes your righteousness. It is all part of the 'new life' the we are promised.
Being 'righteous' simply means 'being in right standing with God'
Accepting Christ's forgiveness means you get that standing.

So if you are Christian (Disciple) reading this...please be encouraged.
What you pray today, tomorrow, or whenever, it is powerful and effective.
God is listening to you and God is answering!
You just have to ask...