Red Roses, Romance and Martyrdom: Tell The People Jesus Loves Them ...

14 February, the night for romantics and here we are, setting off from the Jesus Centre with 650 red roses carefully labelled with an explanation of who exactly was the great saint Valentine and a Bible verse (John 15:13 - see picture below).

Now, you understand, it’s not a tranquil evening, one for lovers to saunter in the hidden corners in back alleys of our streets for some quiet, romantic moment together; there’s quite literally a howling gale outside and there’s been fierce rainstorms across the country. But, undeterred ....we set out.

Armed with ... red roses ... Nick, Steve, Ann and Andy

And it’s such fun. 13 of us (aged 17-73) sweeping through pubs, restaurants, even the Belgrade Theatre (foyer - not the live performance that’s going on), giving out our red roses to whoever ... and telling them that this is really true, God does love them. It’s only the beginning of the message, the Good News, but it’s a start.

 We ask some if they need prayer; I speak to a young guy, Barrie; he didn’t used to believe but his mate died at Christmas and yes, he did pray then and he wants to know if heaven is real. ‘Thanks,’ he says, ‘I’m open to God these days and what a warm feeling I had in my heart when you prayed!’

 You know, sometimes evangelism is hard work, especially when it’s filthy, rotten weather but tonight, no. I guess people sense the fun, the adventure in our eyes and respond. Yes, and I only got kissed once on this romantic night (one of the hazards) but that must be because I’m getting older!

Up The Mountain: Teach Us Your Ways

And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the house of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say,
“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”

Micah 4: 1-2

It’s great to have hungry people around, people you haven’t got to entice to eat, dangling morsels before them in case they  may just fancy a little something, but people who are hungry, hungry for the word, the ways, of God. 

There’s nothing much better in life, as far as I am concerned, than for people to come to us mountain dwellers (see above verses) and say, “We want to learn God’s ways so that we may walk in His paths.” It was happening last night at the New Friends course at Coventry Jesus Centre. 

We asked our new Middle Eastern friends if they had managed to read anything from the Bible this week. “We’ve been very busy this week,” they said. “We’ve only managed to read Luke and John’s Gospel.”

I remember days when, at school as a teenager, I could not put the Bible down. Bible verses were written in my rough book, pondered and learned; it was food for a hungry soul. I longed and longed for God, to know Him more. Yet, last night I felt a little ashamed: my new friends are hungrier than me.

Such appetite is a mark that God is doing 'His thing' - creating passionate followers of Jesus who long to love and know Him and love all that He loves. 

Healthy babies guzzle and grow - very quickly in fact. If we need anything, it’s hungry babes. No, they are not streaming to us, not yet, but they’re coming, and in my heart, I find little more exciting.

Diamonds in the Rough - Addicts, Prostitutes, Old Ladies

Diamonds in the Rough - that’s the name of my blog. It’s called that because I believe, I know, that sitting in the garbage-littered streets, sheltering in the dark alleyways where men bed for the night, tucked away in the secret places where people are abused, raped, imprisoned, paralysed by fear or overcome by deep grief, yes, there, in the deep, darkened places of the earth, are the hidden 'diamonds in the rough'.

Some may describe these places as god-forsaken but that is far from true - God hasn’t left them at all; here He walks, calls out to His lost people; He’s doing His thing ... and He wants us, His people, to do it with Him.  

Now, to illustrate my point, here’s an account of a few 'diamonds in the rough' I have met in the last week or so.... 

G... was helping his friend  who was intoxicated, asleep and lying on a bench, sorting out his clothes and stuffing them into a bag which unfortunately had split. Now, G... had had a few drinks himself but wanted to talk and asked us if we could step aside to talk alone. He told us he was homeless and really loved Jesus, that Jesus had never left him, was always with him - even in his present plight. He had been to Bible college, been baptised in the Holy Spirit and even belonged to Hillsongs  Fellowship but his life had taken a downward turn. “Can I pray for you?” he asked us. (We don’t often get asked that!)  “Of course,” I said. He put his arms around us, prayed and then we talked.

G... confessed his life was not given fully to Jesus at this present time. We all knelt down on the grimy, sunlit pavement and, at his suggestion, sang together, “I surrender all.”  I’m not the best chorus leader but what a moment it was! It was my birthday too and what better moment than to sing that old-time hymn again.
 
                                               *         *         *
Then there was A..., sitting alone and passing the time of day in the last of the autumn sunshine. A... told us he had had an out-of-the-body experience a few years ago when on drugs. He saw sparks, human souls, leaving the earth. Was this his time? A voice, official-sounding, like the bank manager, announced, “This one is not ready yet.” That had jolted him to ponder eternal matters. 

A... was interested in Islam and wondered if Jesus and Mohammed would be friends if they had lived at the same time. We explained that being a Christian is not about following a code; it is primarily about meeting and having a friendship with Jesus. One of my friends with me was once a Muslim and A... was intrigued. She must have travelled a long way in herself to convert, he commented.

As we talked to A..., an old lady appeared, broached and smartly dressed. “Can you pray for me?” she asked. Her brother-in-law was very ill. Tears rolled down her cheeks. A..., my two friends and I held hands in a circle with her and prayed. She thanked us sincerely and we hugged  and then she walked humbly away. A... shook his head; he was clearly moved. “I felt the power of that prayer,” he said.

 Leaving us, A... said he would go to a church he had connections with. 

                                        *         *         *
"'My son, you are destined for better things than this. It’s time to get yourself together.' I’m a Hindu but the Holy Spirit spoke these words to me in a dream a few months ago,” C..... told me as we sat and chatted and added,  “I know it was the Holy Spirit.”

“Following my broken marriage, I’ve been homeless for ten years, sleeping rough on a piece of cardboard somewhere. In the past two years I’ve had ten friends who have died.  Two died of hypothermia under the bridge when it was very cold (-7). When you have alcohol in you, you can’t feel the cold.

“I’ve had a huge capacity for drinking but, after my dream, little by little I cut back. I’ve not had a drink now for 2 1/2 months."

                                    *         *         *

And the end of my week I was pelted with an egg (glad to say not a rotten one) and suffered a bruised and cut face but you know, I’m glad. That’s what happens to the prostitutes round our way and, we know, there’s plenty of rough diamonds amongst them.  In fact, two days later I met one of them, sitting in tears in the bus stop opposite where we live. “I’m selfish, I’m broken,” she sobbed, “and I feel alone.” I prayed with her and, you know what? I knew Jesus had already been there, with her, in the darkness, doing His thing.

 
 Rough diamonds? They come in all shapes and sizes - respectable old ladies, alcoholics, drug addicts and prostitutes included. They're God’s speciality! I only pray that we, Church, will not leave them in the dark places but work with our Father who longs to mine them and bring them up, out of the darkest places, into Light.

Twin Sisters: Love Obedient and Love Unoticed

I was hoping for a relatively quiet morning in the Bridge (Coventry Jesus Centre’s drop-in for homeless and vulnerable people) this morning but, as it goes, the team is down one member and you know what that means?  Me, in the kitchen, on the baked bean trail again: 35 breakfasts AND the washing up is piling up and up and UP.
Read previous blog: destitute, homeless, the baked bean trail
 
As it happens *** (she won’t like me mentioning her name) was in the bathroom early this morning and she felt one of those inward nudges to come down to the Jesus Centre. No, she’s not on the rota today, she’s got a morning off, but a nudge is a nudge (I call it the Holy Spirit’s whispering) and she has come. 

Yes, she came, unasked for. And there was I, struggling. And there she was, hands deep in the washing up – and there was a lot of it. O no, here we go again: another call at the hatch from the guys, “We’ve run out of knives ...”,  and another, “We’ve run out of forks ...  more cups please...” Yes, yes; can’t you see? I’m, I’m drowning in demands.  But she was there.

Now, if dear Holy Spirit, You had given me one of Your nudges today, I think I may have said, “No, it’s my day off, I’m not on the rota the today.” But she heard You and she came. 

One hour later, we’re in our Sunday morning meeting and we sing those priceless truths from the book of Lamentations: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22,23).

Yes, I thought, God is very faithful but often He shows that faithful character of His through others. And God’s faithfulness is often displayed in a very practical way – in this case, help with the ever-increasing pile of washing up. 

You can have all the great preachers you can think of and the gifted and the great in your church but, if I had my way as to who I could build the church with, hands down, I’d choose a group of people ready to choose a path of love obedient and love unnoticed. 

When Jesus said, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me (Matthew 16: 24),’ I’m sure He was talking about the possibilities of martyrdom.  But He was talking about Sunday early morning risings too, going to places when you aren’t asked or even expected because you love Him ...

One of our church mottos is, ‘Love, power and sacrifice.” I’m not sure if I like it. Why? Because we don’t always own it.  But this morning it was apparent alright; I saw love and sacrifice and within it the faithfulness of God. And whenever love and sacrifice are present, the power of God is wedged between the two, abundant, bursting out, filled with unexpected anointing.

And those nudges ... they don’t have to have great ‘spiritual’ contents. I’ve learned for sure, God is interested in the practical things of life - even washing up.