The View from the Vicarage - October 2009

When I was but a lad I lived in London and when I was 9 my parents changed my primary school. This meant that I used to travel on my own 3 stops on the tube and 2 stops on the bus to get to school. London buses at the time were renowned for their ‘convoys’. You wouldn’t see one for ages then 3 or 4 would turn up at once, all packed to the rafters so you couldn’t get on!

Over the years I’ve found that troubles are a bit like buses – you’re just enjoying a nice calm period in your life, then WHAM! A whole bunch of troubles turn up at once. Last week it seemed that everything that was fairly new was breaking – cars, tents, roof-lights – it’s not so much the immediate disappointment that’s hard, it’s the fact that it seems to take up so much of our time to get anything fixed (just try to find the Bosch lawnmower man in the middle of Luton!).

The amazing thing is, though, it’s through these times of trouble that God can transform our lives. In fact God seems to depend more on using our circumstances to make us like Jesus than he depends on us reading the bible. Life is a series of problems and God uses problems (he does NOT create them!) to draw us closer to himself. The Psalmist wrote: “The Lord is close to the broken hearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.”
(Psalm 34:18). One of the most intimate times I’ve had with Him was during a time of worship with students on a Christian camp the evening after I had learned that my mother died. This only happens if we allow God into our lives. God is the ultimate in good manners – he’ll never barge in, he’ll always wait to be invited.

Eaten on their own flour, salt, raw eggs, sugar and oil taste pretty disgusting. Bake them mixed together and they become a delicious cake. If you will give God all your troubles, all your unpleasant experiences, he will blend them together for good. If you are facing troubles ‘like buses’ right now, don’t ask, “Why me? Instead ask, “God, come close to me, comfort me, and show me what you want me to learn.”
“For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.”
(1 Corinthians 4:18)

If you’d like to talk over any of this please get in touch.

Shalom

Revd Derek Witchell
01296 682320