This is not Heaven featuring Lucy Stimpson-Maynard from the album Uplifted recorded and produced by Bob Ross

When we take a long look at the world, especially the horrors of war in the Ukraine an obvious question is “Why is God allowing this to happen?” This question is pretty much the same as “Why does God allow suffering.” Back in 2016 I wrote about 12 blogs offering some ideas on this most difficult of issues.
During a recent sermon, the Vicar of Holy Rood Church, Stubbington pointed out that we, in the West seem to expect to have a life that is epitomised by “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”- this is our right and something is fundamentally wrong when we don’t get it. In other parts of the world, however people are much more realistic and accept that suffering is a part of this life and we should not be surprised when it happens. This does not mean that there is no God or that He does not care – it just means that “This is not heaven” – things will go wrong and His promise is not to take bad things away but to stay close to us through life’s challenges and yes, the sufferings.
Back in January 2016 I made a similar point referring to a chapter in John Young’s book “The Case Against Christ” (not be confused with Lee Stobel’s “The Case for Christ”)
Young writes that we live in “a world that makes itself”. He says that as science has shed more light on our world, we have discovered that the finely tuned processes which enable and sustain life are inevitably fragile; good outcomes contain risks. The movements of the continental plates- an essential aspect of our eco system- can also cause earthquakes. The weather system on which life depends is extremely sensitive and climatic events in the Artic can lead to hurricanes in New York.
God, continues Young, has created this amazing world with a life of its own – “a world that makes itself”. Accidents happen, they are not “sent”. We live in a beautiful and exciting world but it is unpredictable, often dangerous and sometimes downright terrifying. Perhaps the act of creation inescapably involves the fact of suffering. Can we have one without the other? Jesus Himself accepted suffering as an inescapable ingredient of life.
It would seem that it is impossible to come through this life without experiencing some form of suffering – so perhaps we should not be surprised when it does come our way- and perhaps also appreciate the good times more than we do.

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“Precious” CD front cover

Ken’s mum on her 102nd birthday

Precious featuring Lucy Stimpson – Maynard from the album “Precious” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Today I want to again share the amazing story of my mum becoming a Christian- it would have been her birthday on Tuesday, March 8th.

My mum, Audrey Lillian Shearsmith, had attended Chapel as young girl and I knew that she said her prayers without fail every single day. However, in 1997 I still was not sure how she would react to me telling her that I had become a Christian. I therefore showed her a little book from the Alpha course entitled “Why Jesus?” and we had a short chat before she told me to leave it and that she would read it later.

When she was 102 years old and was living in the wonderful Chesterholm Lodge Care Home mum asked me what a Christian was and how you could become one. I simply said that to become a Christian you ask God to forgive you for all the things you have done in your life that have displeased Him and to ask Jesus to come into your life. She then smiled her special smile and pointed to her bag and nodded for me to look in it. And there it was -the “Why Jesus? book that I had given her five years before. I told her that there was a prayer in the book that she could say if you wished to become a Christian. Mum immediately read out the prayer aloud. I was sitting on the bed beside her overjoyed, but at the same time almost not believing what was happening, in fact so much so that I told her that just saying the prayer was not enough she had to really mean it; so, she said it again, but this time with even more meaning in her voice! I noticed, Mandy, one of her Carers who worships at my church was outside mum’s room, so I went out to tell her the good news. “Halleluiah” Mandy cried out before telling me that she was not in the least bit surprised because mum had been talking about Christianity for some time. So, mum became a Christian at the age of almost 103!

A few days before she died in August, 2006, I was with her on my own. She looked at me with so much love, smiled that wonderful smile again and told me that I was precious.
The day after she said “precious” to me I was looking at Psalm 116 and the word “precious” jumped out of the page. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” I read in the concordance that “precious” means, not only highly valued, but also carefully looked after – I can’t tell you how reassuring it was to know that in mum’s last days she was being carefully looked after by God. And she was; all those who were with her will testify to how much at peace she was. She was in no pain whatsoever and was as sharp as always. She left this life in a very gentle and serene way – there is no doubt that she was indeed being carefully looked after and watched over by God.

The day after reading Psalm 116 it was a Sunday and I sat at the back of Holy Rood church with no one on the one seat beside me. Beryl, a retired Curate, came in, which was a bit of a surprise because normally on a Sunday morning she worships at an associate church; coming to Holy Rood for the evening services. Although we are good friends I had not sat with Beryl before, but on that Sunday, she asked if she could sit on that one free seat by my side. She knew that my mum was very unwell from the church notice sheet and when she asked me, I told her that mum was, in fact dying.

At the end of the service Beryl told me that she had prayed for my mum and me and that during the service God had given her a picture. She had seen a beautiful meadow in which stood a rock- a rock that had been very “precious” to her friends and family. The rock was also “precious” to God. Beryl saw the earth around the rock become disturbed and God taking this “precious” rock up to heaven to be with Him.
Mum died the very next day.

Beryl led mum’s thanksgiving service.

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Out of the Depths featuring Lucy Stimpson-Maynard from the album Love is the Way recorded and produced by Bob Ross

I don’t think I need to say or share anything regarding the horrors that are taking place in the Ukraine- instead I offer this song – this lament taken from the Book of Psalms and Isaiah.
“Out Of The Depths”
Out of the depths I cry out to You oh Lord,
Won’t You please hear me do not hide Your face,
My soul is in anguish, it pleads “Why oh why Lord”
I’m worn out from groaning, I’m drenched in my tears,
Sorrow pervades me, Lord please don’t forsake me,
For You are my comfort, You are my strength.

Save me with Your unfailing love,
Hold me as only You can,
I put my trust in You my Rock,
Though so much I do not understand.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,
So, Your ways are higher than my own,
Lord in Your mercy please draw near,
Do not let me walk alone.

Save me with Your unfailing love,
I surrender to Your plans,
I know that You are good,
And that one day I will understand.
Words slightly revised from song lyrics

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If I Say I Love You Jesus featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album Precious recorded and produced by Ross Gill

So, Tuesday of this week, February 22nd was the 25th anniversary of me becoming a Christian.
Here’s what happened on that day 25 years ago.
I had been attending an Alpha course and had started to think about becoming a Christian – I felt reassured by the words in John’s Gospel, Chapter 3 verse 16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” Eternal Life – that is what I needed to take away my fear of death. Not something to be earned but something to be accepted as a gift. Perfect – apart from two problems 1) did I have enough faith to accept Jesus” gift” with any degree of sincerity? 2) If I did ask Jesus into my life what would my mates say- how much ridicule would I have to endure? Let me have a look at problem no 2 first.
Three of my very special friends are Barry Stares, Dave Conchie and Ian Beacham. Barry I have known since Junior School and Dave and Ian since PE College. We regularly meet for a drink and something to eat (yes curry) At one curry Ian said “You will never guess what’s happened to Mick” He was referring to another ex-PE College friend, Mick Mellows who played football for Pompey and who is now a Director of the charity Faith and Football -www.faith&football.org.uk . I thought Ian meant that Mick had been struck down with some horrible illness but no that is not what he meant at all. He continued “He’s only gone and become a Christian!” To which Dave replied “No – and he was such a good bloke!”
Could I face that sort of comment if I “admitted” to becoming a Christian? I really doubted it.
As for problem no 1 re did I have enough faith? – Well thankfully someone told me I only had to have faith as small as a mustard seed (the smallest of all seeds in Biblical times.) I simply had to focus on what I believed not on what I did not – simply had to trust – simply had to take a “leap of faith”
During the Alpha course I had been given a little red book entitled “Why Jesus?” At the end of the book there is a prayer so I knew an opportunity was coming up for me to take that leap of faith and to say this prayer asking Jesus to come into my life. I felt it really difficult to sleep with my two “problems” constantly churning around inside my head. The weekend came when I knew I had to make a decision – as part of the Alpha Course I was at the Holy Rood Vicarage with the Vicar, Michael Christian- Edwards and his lovely wife Merlyn. When the others in my group were having a coffee break I escaped into the village to go through in my head what I was going to do. On my return sure enough Michael gave everyone the opportunity to say a prayer asking Jesus to forgive us for all the things we had done wrong – to ask Him to come into our lives- and for us to be filled with His Holy Spirit. I remember asking Michael if I could say the prayer twice. He seemed surprised but said that was fine and so that lunchtime on Saturday, February 22nd 1997 I asked Jesus into my life and became a Christian.
Why did I want to say the prayer twice? Well there was Mr Mill and his dad that I also wanted to be there on such a momentous occasion. So that evening in Mr Mil’s apartment in Titchfield I sat between the two of them confessing out loud all the things I had done wrong and again asking Jesus into my life. Some of the things I had done wrong were pretty big – one had been a real burden for many years but after I had confessed it the burden lifted- I know that sounds amazing and too good to be true but amazing is what it was and too good not to be true!
So I thought “micky taking” here you come, but I decided to be pro-active and tell people before they found out through the grapevine. First off was Barry who I had known the longest -he was surprisingly supportive – so too was Ian – but I could not tell Dave, it was Dave who had made the comment about Mick Mellows – he was sure to let me have it with both barrels. A couple of months later Barry and Ian told me that Dave was really upset with me for not telling him. So I took Dave out for a curry (of course) and felt pretty emotional when Dave told me that he loved me (in a bloke way!!) and that he would always support me in anything I did and that he was upset because it seemed that I did not believe I could trust him. So big apology from me and really all the worries about people “taking the mick” turned out to be groundless- mind you I think my two sons James and Chris took a bit of stick at school.
So did my fears of dying die (sorry) If I am honest not entirely – but I did have God’s promise to hold on to and you can’t have much more than that. In fact later I wrote a song called “It’s From the Lord” which is on our CD “Heart and Soul” – the last verse of which is “When your time on earth is ending and you look up to Him on high and your see His promises sparkling spelt out in stars across the sky and open arms reach to embrace you to welcome you home then you know, yes you know it is the Lord.”
I also wrote a song which was a sort of autobiography of me becoming a Christian and being worried about what people would think – this one is on the CD “Precious” and is called “If I Say I Love You Jesus” I did actually once sing it live myself at a Mustard Seed Concert but here it is sung by the fantastic Lucy Stimpson-Maynard.

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For God So Loved The World featuring Lucy Stimpson – Maynard recorded live at a performance of His Story

With it having been St Valentine’s Day this week I thought I would do some research and find out a bit more about the Saint- I then realised I had already done so a couple of years ago. I still thought that it was repeating and so “History.com” states ::
The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?
The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Still others insist that it was Saint Valentine of Terni, a bishop, who was the true namesake of the holiday. He, too, was beheaded by Claudius II outside Rome.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl–possibly his jailor’s daughter–who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and–most importantly–romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
As well as being the patron saint of lovers St Valentine is also the patron saint of beekeepers and epilepsy,
Chaucer may have invented Valentine’s Day. The medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer often took liberties with history, placing his poetic characters into fictitious historical contexts that he represented as real. No record exists of romantic celebrations on Valentine’s Day prior to a poem Chaucer wrote around 1375. In his work “Parliament of Foules,” he links a tradition of courtly love with the celebration of St. Valentine’s feast day–an association that didn’t exist until after his poem received widespread attention. The poem refers to February 14 as the day birds (and humans) come together to find a mate. When Chaucer wrote, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate,” he may have invented the holiday we know today.

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The Name That’s On My Lips featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Where Would I Be Without You? ” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Came across this on social media and just had to share it

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One of the great Christian worship songs that came out of lockdown was “The Blessing.” The featured song today is a great compilation of over 500 different versions.
Courtesy of Wikipedia here are a few basic facts about the song but basically the idea today is to simply watch the video and enjoy.
The original “ The Blessing” was performed by Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes and Elevation Worship, released as the lead single from Elevation Worship’s twelfth live album, Graves into Gardens (2020), The song was written by Chris Brown, Cody Carnes, Kari Jobe and Steven Furtick.
“The Blessing” won the GMA Dove Award for Worship Recorded Song of the Year at the 2020 GMA Dove Awards, and the GMA Dove Award for Song of the Year at the 2021 GMA Dove Awards. It has also garnered a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song at the 2021 Grammy Awards. It was further recorded into dozens of cover versions by various artists, produced in various languages and in different parts of the world.
The lyrics are largely taken from the priestly blessing found in the Book of Numbers within the Old Testament of the Bible.

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Jesus You Are Everything featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album I Look Up To The Heavens recorded and produced by John Hodgkinson

So here is the final episode on prayer which I read in the “Word For Today” and thought worthy of sharing:
Your prayer style should be consistent with the way God designed you. Yes, you can learn from people who are more experienced in prayer than you are, but you need to be careful not to make them your standard, or become a ‘clone’. It’s wrong to force yourself to do what others do, if you are not comfortable with it in your spirit. Don’t try to keep up with someone else, or copy their prayer style. And don’t feel compelled to work every prayer principle you have ever learned, every time you pray. Most of us are afraid not to be like everyone else. We are more comfortable following specified rules than daring to follow the leading of God’s Spirit. When we follow man-made rules, we please people. But when we step out in faith and follow God’s Spirit, we please Him. You don’t need to feel pressured to pray a certain way, or for a certain length of time, or to focus on specific things because other people are doing so. ‘Untie the boat from the dock,’ so to speak, and let the tide of God’s Spirit take you wherever He wills. When you are in control, you know what will happen next. But when you let God’s Spirit take the lead, you are in for a lot of surprises in life. Wonderful surprises! You need to be determined to be yourself, and refuse to spend your life feeling guilty because you’re not like somebody else. The Bible says, ‘He fashions their hearts individually.’ So when it comes to prayer, the word for today is, ‘Be yourself’.

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When I Think Of You Jesus featuring Lucy Stimpson-Maynard from the album Precious recorded and produced by Ross Gill

As I said last week, prayer can be very challenging and so I continue with this second part of a series from “Word For Today” which I thought to be most helpful.
God is far too creative to insist that every person interacts with Him in exactly the same way. He designed each of us differently. There are prayer principles that apply to all of us, but God leads each of us as individuals. We are all at different places in our walk with Him, we are all at different levels of spiritual maturity, we all have different types of experiences in prayer. Yes, we need to learn the fundamentals of prayer. But then we need to move beyond intellectual knowledge about how to pray, and take those principles to the Lord and say: ‘Teach me to apply this to my life, in my situation, to my heart. Show me how this idea is supposed to work for me. God, I’m depending on You to teach me to pray, to make me effective in prayer, to make my relationship with You through prayer the richest, most rewarding aspect of my life.’ When you say, ‘Lord, teach me to pray,’ you’re asking Him to teach you to pray in a distinctly personal way, and to enable your prayers to be easy, natural expressions of who you are. You need to go before God just the way you are, and give Him the pleasure of enjoying the company of the ‘original’ that He made you to be. You need to approach Him with your own strengths, weaknesses, uniqueness and everything else that so wonderfully distinguishes you from everyone else. God enjoys meeting you where you are, developing a personal relationship with you, and helping you grow to become everything He wants you to be.

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Because of Your Grace featuring Harun Kotch from the album The Season of Singing recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Prayer can be very challenging and I found these words in “Word For Today” most helpful. I hope you do too.
In his book With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray writes: ‘None can teach like Jesus…therefore we call on Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” A pupil needs a teacher who knows his work, who has the gift of teaching, who in patience and love will descend to the pupil’s needs. Blest be God! Jesus is all this and much more…Jesus loves to teach us how to pray.’ If you: a) are not sure God is really listening when you talk to Him; b) don’t understand why some prayers seem to go unanswered; c) wonder if you are praying ‘right’ or generally feel frustrated in prayer; d) are eager to know what to do to feel more connected with God and gain confidence that your prayers really do make a difference, say, ‘Lord, teach me to pray.’ Although there are principles of prayer that apply to everyone, God will lead each of us individually. He wants to take you just the way you are, and help you discover your own rhythm of prayer; to develop a style of prayer that maximises your relationship with Him. He wants prayer to be an easy, natural, life-giving way of communicating as you share your heart with Him and allow Him to share His heart with you. Prayer is so simple; it’s nothing more than talking to God and taking time to listen to what He has to say to you. God has a personalised prayer plan for you, a way for you to communicate most effectively with Him. So begin by saying, ‘Lord, teach me to pray.’

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