Blessed to be a blessing

A couple of months ago I heard about an organisation called Bristol International Student Centre (BISC). They were looking for volunteers to welcome new international students to the city and to take them to their new accommodation.

My pointy little ears pricked up. After spending a good chunk of my gap year in Italy, I knew how it felt to arrive in a new country not knowing anyone. I've also spent most of my life relying on lifts as I didn't own a car until earlier this year.

This was the perfect opportunity to ‘pay it forward’. I turned up for my first collection assignment to find three people eagerly waiting, each boasting several large suitcases. Now me and Ulrika (my trusty Ford KA) were a little unprepared for this.

In the end I took two slightly squished Malaysian lads. Baggage was jammed into every crevice, with large cases resting on laps and all manner of things obstructing my gear stick and handbrake.

Fortunately, I've always had something of a cavalier attitude to driving and we managed to find both sets of accommodation (yes, doubters, my sense of direction is better than you think).

I ended up doing several trips, mainly with students from Asia. I even did a couple of house viewings with two Chinese girls who had turned up without booking any accommodation. BISC had kindly put them up with a family for a week, but they desperately needed to find somewhere proper to live.

I'm pleased to report that everyone survived my kamikaze driving, and it was such as blessing to get to know some of these students, who were getting their first taste of English life. Suffice to say my tour guide skills need a bit of work, but I did know where a large Chinese supermarket was, so that earned me a few brownie points!

I was a little sad dropping the last two students to their digs, but fortunately the adventure wasn't over. Another part of BISC’s work is providing meals for internationals at the beginning of term. The first meal is free, and every subsequent meal is just £2, which doesn't even cover costs.

Despite working full time, the guy who ran the kitchen, Charl, had worked every night for ten nights by the time my meal assignment came round. I was really moved by his and his wife’s (BISC coordinator Jacqueline’s) amazing dedication and enthusiasm, which was also displayed beautifully by Jacqueline’s second-in-command, Ruth. They really did work tirelessly to meet the students’ every need.

A team of volunteers had assembled by the time I’d moved Ulrika from her slightly illegal parking spot. Everyone had a dish to make and mine was veggie pasta. It was hard not to compare my progress to everyone else’s (very slow, apparently) and I suddenly wished hadn't relinquished the household’s cooking duties over to my brother in favour of washing up when I moved in with him and his wife earlier this year.

But the dish finally came together, and I think we served about 50 students in all. The food seemed to go down well and it was lovely to see the students getting to know each other over steaming apple pie and custard.

And my washing up skills weren't wasted! Catering for 50 people creates a fair few dishes, so we cracked on with that.

I was even pleasantly surprised to find that one of my fellow washer uppers was a boy who had been in my year at school. I had the privilege of meeting his wife and catching up on what he’d been up to in the (too many to mention) years since we left.

What BISC is doing reminds me of what Christ did during his earthly ministry. He spent time with people, he fed people and he met their needs. He didn't discriminate or turn people away – and his capacity for love was contagious.

I'm sure there is an organisation like BISC where you live. I would encourage you to find out and get involved! It’ll bless you just as much as it blesses the people you are serving.

Read more from Joy in the new issue of Liberti - out now!

I can’t TAKE it any more!

Yesterday I read that Rihanna was being treated for exhaustion and it made me think about the pressures celebrities face.

Many young girls and women dream of becoming a famous pop star with the glamorous lifestyle it brings. But few realise that getting to the top invariably involves long days, lack of sleep, constant travel, physical exertion and lack of privacy. 

If wannabe singers knew what it really involved, would they go for it?

Furthermore, if many of us realised how stressful it would be to get our dream job, have a family or overcome our various physical challenges, would we be game to take the risk?

The fact is, modern life is stressful. We are constantly on the go… always reachable by some form of technology… always feeling like we should be doing more.

Do you ever feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day? That as soon as one task is done, ten additional jobs will torpedo themselves into your ‘inbox’?

When we get stressed, our bodies release stress hormones. These hormones raise our blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels and long-term stress can lead to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety, obesity, heart disease, skin problems and (in women) menstrual problems.

So what can we do about it?

Well, on a practical level, it’s worth exploring what the cause of our stress is. We may not be able (or willing) to give up us our jobs/motherhood/illness/family strife but there may be ways to reduce stress.

Do you take on more responsibility than you need to?

Do you feel guilty delegating work to others?

Do you have trouble saying ‘no’ to things you know you don’t have the time or energy to do?

Are you constantly striving for things you think will make you happy but in reality don’t?

Once you’ve had a think about this, it’s worth finding out what God says about stress:

1. It is a real thing that affects us all: “The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me” (Job 30:27)                                                                                                         

“All man's efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied” (Ecclesiastes 6:7)

  

2. Stress makes us unproductive and unfruitful: “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22)                        

“Unless the Lord builds the house, it's builders labour in vain...In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat” (Psalm 127:1-2)

3. The answer is Christ: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest… For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27)

So how should we respond? By making the right choices…

“You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Choose what is better and it will not be taken from you” (Luke 10:41-42).

What is the “better” option though? Relationship with God…

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

The woman who spends time with God and reading His Word, she will be…

“Like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever she does prospers” (Psalm 1:1-3).

Read more from Joy in the next issue of Liberti magazine.

How to be an employee and a Christian at the same time

There has been endless debate about the separation of church and state, and it seems the dispute is spilling over into the workplace with increasing velocity.

Recent news reports have highlighted the general view that work is work, and faith is faith; that the two things must be mutually exclusive.

Whether that means not wearing a cross to work, or cutting out prayer before council meetings, it seems the workplace is gradually being deChristianised. (If that’s not a word it soon will be!)

The question that arises then is, should I carry on working as a closet Christian or give up my faith and just get on with my job? Well neither, obviously. But I do think it’s important that we live out what we believe carefully and without compromising who we are in Christ.

It’s hard to strike a balance between fitting in, getting the job done and being a super Christian. If you’ve managed it, please let me know the secret! But I personally believe it’s impossible (and undesirable) to leave our faith at home when we head into work. Faith isn't like a hat that you can choose to put on if there's a storm brewing (literal or metaphorical); it's on the inside of you... whether you like it or not!

Telling someone to stop being a Christian at work is like asking someone to separate themselves from their nationality/political beliefs/deep love of cheese. Being a Christian isn’t what we do on Sundays, it is who we are, and it informs (or at least it should inform) everything we do. I’m a Christian when I go to watch Liverpool play, when I’m having lunch with a friend or when I’m up to my neck in proofreading.

So should we be quoting the Bible every time a colleague asks us a question, or offering to lay hands on our colleagues at their first sniffle? I wouldn’t recommend it. 

I personally think it’s usually the small things that set us apart, like:
  

•  Being absolutely honest, even if it means we get into trouble or lose money as a result
• Taking a genuine interest in our workmates and praying for them – especially the difficult ones (you know who I’m talking about)
• Showing respect for the boss even if he or she is wrong/being unreasonable
• Refusing to engage in gossip (even if you really want to know what Delia said to Chelsea at the staff do)
• Inviting our colleagues to social events and building lasting relationships with them
• Forgiving people rather than bearing grudges
• Standing up for the things that are really important
• Respecting people of other faiths or no faith and welcoming open discussion about what you believe and why
• Maintaining a positive attitude. No one likes a grump!
• Having cake/chocolate/cookies on hand at all times

None of this is groundbreaking stuff, and you probably do these things without even thinking about it. But while wearing a cross might suggest you are a Christian (although to be fair every self-respecting gangsta rapper does this), living an upright, gracious life every day will prove that you are.

The best piece of advice I’ve been given when it comes to living out my faith at work is to start the morning with prayer and continue in this attitude throughout the day. It’s hard to get offended/offend others if we approach work with the same heart of humility and thankfulness with which we approach God.

Read more from Joy in the next issue of Liberti magazine.

Love is all around us

Following on from last week’s blog, I’d like to share some other nuggets from the Exceptional Women’s Conference.

In case you missed the last entry, the theme for the conference was LOVE, based on John 4:7, which says: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God”.

Guest speaker Marion Meyers (senior pastor of The River Church in Devon) took two of the four main speaker spots at the event, which ran March 30-31.

I can’t say her teaching was exactly comfortable to listen to, but it was certainly relevant, poignant and incredibly powerful. At least, that’s how I felt about it.

Her first session was entitled “Looking for love in the wrong places”. She introduced the topic by explaining how she once took a play therapy course that talked about the concept of a ‘love tank’. In response to this, she told her two children that when they were hungry or thirsty, they had a little tank that mummy would fill when it was empty. In the same way, she told them they had a ‘love tank’ that she would fill with hugs any time they felt they needed love.

But she believes many women who grew up in homes where mum and/or dad were AWOL struggle to fill their ‘love tank’; many don’t even know how to do this. As a result, the tank gets broken and leaky; it never feels full enough.

This, Pastor Marion said, is something that God anticipated many moons ago. “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

But that’s just the bad news. She pointed out that God is too gracious and merciful to allow people to remain in this broken state. His response is to provide a fountain of living water that never runs dry and permanently quenches our thirst for love (John 4:7-19).

“My joy, peace and happiness do not rely on anyone else loving or being nice to me,” Pastor Marion commented. “When we are filled up with living water there is nothing more satisfying.”

Like the woman at the well with the six ‘husbands’, she claimed women who look for love in the wrong places will be constantly unhappy, vulnerable and tormented; and they will always struggle to comprehend the love of God. The solution, she said, is to practically come to know the love of Christ for ourselves.

Carrying on from her Friday session, Pastor Marion’s Saturday slot, entitled “Bad Love” began with Ephesians 3:17-19, which talks about being “rooted and grounded in love” and knowing “the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God”.

She played a clip from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, which includes lyrics such as: “I want your ugly, I want your disease; I want your everything, as long as it's free; I want your love.”

As the song shows, some women would rather have bad love than no love, and this means we allow ourselves to make excuses for the people in our lives that treat us badly. “Love and bad can’t go in the same sentence!” Pastor Marion said. “Love is empowering and accepting; it wants you to fly! It doesn’t want to squeeze you into a box and keep you locked up.”

But Pastor Marion claimed that God is into “swapsies”; that he trades beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. And that if people allow this to happen they will never thirst again. “If you can get loving yourself right you won’t put up with bad love,” she concluded.

As Solomon says in Proverbs 27:7: “A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”

Read more from Joy in the next edition of Liberti magazine.

The Christian camps that are “brainwashing” our kids

Soul Survivor 2011 courtesy of River Methodist Church

As a regular Guardian reader, I was surprised to see an article called “Christian teen camps are wicked, innit” (August 2011) on the paper’s website.

Although cleverly written, this piece reveals Thomas Prosser’s ignorance and prejudice, and is typical of our generation’s tolerance for anything apart from Christian values.

The general gist of the article is that Christian camp organisers are using teen lingo and exploitative techniques to brainwash kids into believing the (clearly nonsensical) views that millions of people around the world hold.

I went to Christian camps every summer as a teenager and they were the highlight of my year. I made a lifelong friend the very first year and we met up at camp each year after that for about six years. We’re still in touch now.

There were no secret agendas about these camps: they were advertised as Christian camps and I wasn’t surprised to find there was some mention of Christianity when I got there. If you went to a pop concert and ended up watching a strip show, you’d be a little surprised to say the least (or perhaps not so much these days).

Prosser describes Soul Survivor sermons as “wild orations that aim to wear down the resistance of the audience to the message”. He claims: “Videos designed to whip up the emotional temperature of the audience are shown, and fervid calls for youngsters to accept Christ are made.” He adds that “hypnotic music typically sounds out in subdued lighting as youngsters are urged to come to the front and give their lives to Christ”.

I’m pretty sure Prosser’s never actually been to the camp. What makes the music “hypnotic”? Is there anything inherently evil about rooms with dimmed lighting? Should we stop our kids from watching videos that have an emotional impact on them and force them to watch reality TV drivel instead?

I found it deeply ironic that the article – deriding the underlying “manipulation” of Christian “yoof lingo” – used such overtly anti-Christian language. Was this Prosser’s ploy to “brainwash” Guardian readers into rejecting Bible teachings? Let’s just hope his audience is more discerning than he thinks our youngsters are.

Prosser continues by saying: “None of any of this is fair to teens: young people have a right to choose their religious beliefs without being subjected to strategies that emotionally exploit them.”

Do you know many teens who agree to do things they don’t want to do? Isn’t he patronising and undermining the intelligence of our youngsters, who have probably given the issues considerable thought before making a decision one way or the other. That was certainly my experience.

I fundamentally disagree with Prosser’s assertion that “giving one's heart to Christ can alas be done in a fit of absence of mind”. How could he possibly know that? I agree that it can be a spontaneous decision, but becoming a Christian isn’t just about saying “pledging allegiance to Christ” at a specific moment; it’s about deciding whether to follow Him for the rest of your life. This choice is theirs long after the camp ends.

The article stipulates that “Christianity's most controversial doctrines are given a full airing at the camps”. This is probably true. We discussed a huge range of topics including human suffering, racism, evolution, who Jesus was, sex before marriage, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, physical healing… You name it, we talked about it.

But these discussions were open, interactive debates and questions/challenges to doctrine were actively encouraged. It gave us the opportunity to talk about things we might have been afraid to talk about with our parents or friends. And backed up with Bible teachings, the “wickedness” of these principles should probably be taken up with God himself.

Finally, while a lot of my friends were trying out drugs, sleeping around and messing about with Ouija boards, I was learning to jet ski, having a go at archery and horseriding, playing outdoor games, having gala dinners, taking part in music, craft and drama workshops, and most of all, having a LOT of fun.

I scrolled down to read the comments below the article, and sadly, the majority of respondents agreed with Prosser’s bigoted generalisations. “Most sensible people realise that religion is a crock of shit when they hit puberty,” says one. “Anyone uncool enough to sign up for such an embarrassing dickwit fest deserves all they get,” says another.

It’s a shame Christianity is seen by many as something that only the gullible, educationally subnormal and under-10s could possibly take seriously. Would these people have the guts to say the same about Islam or Judaism?

One that made me laugh, though, said: “The thuggery of those Christians over the past few days as they've been rioting, torching buildings, looting and mugging has been beyond contempt. My comment is of course not serious, Thomas Prosser, because I guess your article is not serious.”

I’ll leave Liberti editor Bekah Legg to have the last word on this as she has actually been to the festival and has therefore earned the right to comment.

“I went quite cautious, if I'm honest, but have been thoroughly impressed by all they do,” she says. “I take a group of about 60 kids and watch them grow before my eyes.

“It's an opportunity for them to hear great teaching, participate in great worship, encounter the Holy Spirit in a safe environment where there is no pressure or manipulation and above all I think it is just amazing to be part of a group of 10,000 people and realise that there are a lot more Christians out there.

“I've seen a lot of kids’ lives turned around.”

I don’t have children (yet) but when I do, I think I’ll run the risk of them encountering darkened rooms and "hypnotic" music than allowing them to do the things most teenagers are doing these days. Ok, rant over!