This Lion... Aslan.

'Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how many skins have I got to take off?... So I scratched away for the third time and got off the third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good. 'Then the Lion said, You will have to let me undress you... 'The very first tear he made was so deep I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I had ever felt...And there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker and darker, and more knobbly looking than the others had been... 'After a bit the Lion took me out and dressed me...in new clothes--the same I've got on now as a matter of fact.' C.S. Lewis The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' (chapter 27)

Summer Holidays...

I finished up work for 6 week today. So I have more or less 24 hours a day for 6 weeks to decide what I want to do, with very few constraints. So I am in the process of making a list of all the things I want to do this summer, and I will then try to book some of them into my diary, and have a list of "other" things to do ready to use when I have nothing to do and start to get bored. - Go to Burgundy (18th to 31st July... this is set in stone!) - Move house. - Unpack and decorate new bedroom. - Work on making a lovely living area to have people over in (as well as my bedroom) - Read (I have a lovely wee list of books that are o my shelf that I haven't got round to reading yet) - Try some good food magazine recipes. - Climb Arthur's Seat. - Visit Cramond. - See what street is at the other end of the wee path on Grange Road. - Fill my prayer journal (it currently only has 4 pages full, and this basically means "Pray lots") - Do an Inductive Bible Study of 1 & 2 Timothy. - Go to see Ice Age 3, Harry Potter and other good films as they come out. - Go to some festival shows. Particularly Sweeney Todd and Antigone. - Hang out with Tim who is visiting Edinburgh for the summer. - Go to the Pizza Express in Stockbridge with view over the Water of Leith.

The Gospel

The Gospel is (or at least should be) central to everything we say and do. This past year I read a book called Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick with the girls on the core team for Index. If nothing else, this book reiterated to me my failure to realise the amazingness of the gospel. I mean... what a message! What a hope! What forgiveness! What love! What truth... if it really is what it is, which it is, it should affect my everything. One of the men who preaches at Carrubbers often says "We were rebel sinners, but we were wonderfully saved!" Some of my friends and I often repeat this to one another very regularly because it is a soundbite that captures Eric Scott so well. But the truth in that statement is phenomenal. Even more phenomenal than Irn-Bru, and that is phenomenal. Sinners. Doomed. Going to hell. Lost. Without hope. No purpose. But saved. No reason for this other that God, the creator of the universe having such compassion on lost souls. What grace. What love. What hope. And he didn't just click His fingers to make it happen. He could have. He is God after all. But He chose to show his love for us in a way that cost Him. He gave His one and only Son. He sent the one He was in closest relationship with to the Earth, this horrid place amongst sinners, and gave Him a life full of humiliation, rejection and hurt to give us life. And Jesus did it, willingly, joyfully, obediently. He died the most dishonorable death, that of a slave or tractor. It was slow, excruciating and public. He wanted out, and was honest with His Father about this. Yet in this desire, He held fast to God knowing His will was best, and said "Not my will but yours." Jesus died this death, and was buried. But, behold, He rose again. Death could not conquer. This sinless sacrifice that paid the price of our sin defeated death, and in so doing gave us life also. Do we live each day believing this? I know I often just get on with life. I believe it, but don't let it affect every detail of my life, all my choices. I forget. I do not tell myself the Gospel daily. I should. The book I mentioned earlier challenged me to. I am trying. (Titus 2:11-14) Such a truth and a hope cannot go untold. Why then do we sit through so many sermons, even sometimes whole services without this Gospel being told? Every sermon should contain this message, regardless of the topic. If the Gospel cannot be fitted in to the talk, may I suggest that the topic is off-topic? Romans 5:19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

So good.

My God is so good. There is nothing else that I am more certain of. My God is good. Our God is good. He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, rich in love. Abounding in Love. The reason I say this, is because I am a sinner. I have hurt Him more than I have been hurt, ever. I have rejected Him over and over. I run back to Him for an instant, and then, yet again I turn my back on Him, and act as though I hate Him. God allows in His wisdom that which He could easily prevent by His power. And so, I am here to serve with joy.

Get Married

For a while now I have been reading Candice Watters' (amongst others) articles on the Boundless webzine. At first, I thought she was a little extreme, but as time has gone by, my mind is changed and I agree with most of what she has to say in these articles. It is for this reason and this reason only that I decided to buy her new book Get Married: What Women Can Do To Help It Happen. Such a title would normally make me snicker, say something along the lines of "Dear oh dear" and move on to the next thing. For a while, that was my exact reaction. But after a few months of deliberation, I decided to buy it with some of the Amazon vouchers I was given for my birthday. And I think it was a good move. There are parts of the book that I am unsure about, and though most everything is back up by Bible verses and the context of these verses, I am not sure her interpretation of these verses is necessarily correct. But there are things that I do believe are true and were helpful to me. Which is why I have decided to share. Reading the introduction, two things jumped out at me. The first is something I've had a hunch about for a while. The culture we live in is anti-marriage. My friend Christine and I got to talking about this a few weeks back, and came to the conclusion that the Regency Period or Pre-industrial times would have been a good time that promoted marriage and none of this lovey-dovey you have to be head over heels in love with someone before you can marry them Hollywood Disney rubbish. But actually, since 1970, the marriage rate has declined by 50% and the proportion of American women ages 25-29 who have never married has quadrupled. So we only needed to go back 40 years... The emphasis has shifted from "Marriage equals adulthood" to "Marriage, nice if it happens" to "Marriage, one of many lifestyle options." And the second is something that I had not realised and which helps. Candice says, "There's a difference between making it happen and helping it happen." There is a difference between initiating and asking a guy to initiate. What I mean by this is that it is for example asking a guy out is different from asking a guy to consider making a relationship official and helping him realise that hanging out for ages and not doing anything about it is not gentlemanly and not honouring and respectful to the woman he is hanging out with. That is our role. To help. Obviously, give a guy a chance to initiate, but if he doesn't, helping him to initiate is biblical. That was helpful beyond belief. And I think it helps us help men to grow up, be less cowardly, and more manly. The first couple of chapters showed me that still nowadays, marriage is a worthwhile and holy pursuit. It is something that I am allowed to want. Just as some people have a career they dream about and aspire to, getting married and raising children is just as good a dream and aspiration. It is ok to want to be married. More than ok, it is good. It is not something to be ashamed of as I have been until now. There are many who promote this idea that if you desire marriage, it is an idol. But Colossians 3:4-5 says "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry." A godly marriage is actually an antidote to most of these. Another issue is that of dishonouring messages about marriage. It is easy to despise something you can't get, even when it's what you want most of all. Nowhere in scripture or in the lives of heroic singles do we see a pattern of demeaning marriage to make singles feel better about their marital status. People will say things like, "It is better to be single and wish you were married than to be married and wish you were single." People who marry well and are committed to their marriages don't wish they were single again. And single people don't find consolation in married people wishing they were single. Most admit that marriage is still something they desire. Marriage has never been perfect, ripples of the fall have always affected it, as well as everything else in this life. And in spite of all I have said here, it is a sure thing that nothing will satisfy like the Lord Jesus. Yes, He chooses to sometimes give those blessings for which we desire. But, NOTHING NOTHING will satisfy and provide us with true joy except our Savior God. Not that perfect job, beautiful house, fancy car, close friendships, money....not even those children, not a husband, not a wife, not a fiancé, not a boyfriend/girlfriend, not a diploma, not a degree, not a perfect figure… you name it. But here's the exciting news! Get excited, because you have a God that can feel every deep longing of that precious heart of yours. In fact, He knows your heart so well, because He created you and He loves you. The book has much more to say about things like having a network of people to help in the process of finding a mate, what a godly marriage is and is not, pulling a Ruth and living like you're planning (ie intending) to marry. "Marriage is the proper reward for the real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it." - C.S Lewis.