Curveballs

So.. Today I learnt that life can throw curve balls at you that you totally didn't expect... A friend of mine, I found out today (or yesterday), has gone and has started talking to others about a problem that she has with me and one of my flatmates before she has come to talk to me or my flattie. I am hurt by this as I did not even realise that she had a problem. But then not only that, but she has or is going to be going to some of the leaders in our church (which she doesn't like or belong to) to talk to them about us and we have no idea why? We didn't find out about her having a problem with us until one of our other friends (whom she had talked to) let it slip that she had talked to her about it.

So...

How do we deal with this situation?
How do we get past the hurt and the anger of what she has done to us?
How do we deal with the situation while keeping some semblence of the friendship alive? And if not the friendship then at least keeping some maturity in the "meetings" that are going to have to occur?
She has hurt us by doing what it is that she has done, and as we do not understand why she has done this we, or at least I, am finding it hard to keep being civil to her when I see her. Though I know that I will continue to be as it's not very christian like otherwise.

So I'm not entirely sure how to deal with this curve ball that has been thrown my way. I'm not sure how to hit it so that the ball goes where it is meant to (on the right course) and not down a path the makes the hit invalid...

If you have any advice then I would love to hear your opinions. Please Help...

God Bless
Ellen

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is one of the most controversial stories around. Many christians don't like him because he lives in a world that is filled with all sorts of magic. And magic isn't kosha with the Bible. A lot of these same people have no problem with Lord of the Rings or C. S. Lewis' world of Narnia. Why is it that they have so muc problems with Harry Potter? For kids they are inappropriate. But for adults who know the dangers of what they are reading is it such a bad thing? We can read Lord of the Rings and get good christian stories out of them. Why is Harry Potter so different? I kind of understand the reasoning behind not letting kids read the books but does it really need to fuel such debate between christians? Why are we caring more about the nooks that are being read when we could be trying to work together to get people the things that they need most. Are we concentrating too much on things that arent, well not un-important, but less important than other things that we could be concentrating on. If we concentrated on reaching out to those around us rather than alienating them because they read books that 'we' don't agree with then we would be able to help them a whole lot more.

I was talking with one of my mates today about the things that we read and we got talking about how we can read things without being contaminated by them. In fact sometimes it is good to read things that everyone else is reading because if we know what has happened in whatever it is that we are reading then we can use that (whether it be a book [like Harry Potter] or a magazine [like Cosmopolitain]) to help relate to them on another level. It helps us to be able to talk about every day things that the people we are trying to reach out to, it makes us seem less 'above them' as such. It means that we can help them realise that we don't think ourselves better than them. But if we are argueing within our 'circles' about whether or not Harry Potter is good or bad, how is that going to help us reach out to non-christians? We don't need to agree with it, but we do need to let them know that there are more important things out there and that we do care about them.

So first of all what are your opinions on Harry Potter? Is it good or bad? Next, why do some people make such a big deal out of books like Harry Potter and not others like Lord of the Rings? Is using mainstream books a good way to be able to relate to those we are trying to reach out to? If not, then what are other ways that we can try and connect with them?

On an entirely different note... Is anyone out there going to go and watch the new Harry Potter movie at the midnight showing when it comes out around or on the 11th/12th of July. How good do you think the movie is going to be compared to the books? Can you wait for the last book to be released? I already have mine pre-ordered through Whitcholls. And I have people who have asked me if they are able to read it after me. I think my list is up to 6 reserves on the book. I'm almost like a library in and of myself with the amount of people that are borrowing my boks and movies.

Anyway, post your opinions in the comments section so that I can 'hear' your opinion on the topic at hand...

Seeing God

I was at lifegroup on Tuesday night, and my lifegroup leader made a comment about how Clive was right, you can see God in movies. I thought about that comment. And reslised that you can see God anywhere if you just look for him. I often get messages out of books (as well as movies) and sometimes I get messages out of books that other christians disagree with on principal. It's amazing the places that we can find God if we just open ourselves up to finding him. I know that the book that I should get the most inspiration from is the Bible, and I do get inspiration from it when I read it, but these other books and movies can provide just as much inspiration. The only foreword that I wrote and gave was about fear. This was inspired by God when I was watching an episode of 'Band of Brothers' the war series that I was writing about in the previous blog. The quote then was about fear and how they had the training to learn to deal with their fear. I realised that we had training to deal with our fear as well. It was called the Bible and Jesus. I hadn't got anything like that out of the Bible before.

And its not just movies and books that we can see God in. We can see him in our relationships that we have with the people that are around us, both the christians and the non christians.
If we look we can see the opportunities that God lies at our feet for us to take hold of so that we can reach out to others.

Another thing that happened at lifegroup one week was that we were told to pick a page from the newspaper and then pick an article to pray over. I prayed over Paris Hilton and that she would find God. The next week Paris was photographed with a Bible in her hand... Gives me something to think about..

We really can find God when we look for him. Its just a matter of taking the time to actually find Him where we are looking.

War

War is an interesting topic of conversation for me. I find the topic so fascinating that i could have conversations lasting hours and i have in the past. War is a touchy topic for a lot of people, why this is i'm not entirely sure but I know that there have been a lot of things happen in the wars of our past that we shouldn't forget. I am a huge fan of the book "Band of Brothers: E company, 506th regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle Nest". It follows E company right from the beginning of their training that started in July 1942, through the jump into Normandy on D-Day (6th June), through their attack on Carentan, their jump into Holland, their battle at Bastogne, the attack at Noville as well as their trek across Germany where they eventually took the Eagles Nest. The author also finds out what the soldiers did after the war. To me this book shows so many different sides of human nature. These men did not know how they were going to cope when they came to be under fire. When they got to the war, the men weren't fighting for their country for the most part but they were instead fighting for the men that were to the left and the right of them, their comrades in arms.

The men in this war saw their friends get wounded or killed in front of them. How long can someone stand under that pressure? How long until you finally crack? So many soldiers cracked from seeing that happen time and time again. The veterans of the war stopped trying to get to know the replacements because the replacements were more often than not the ones that were killed. Not to say that the veterans werent killed, because in a war there is no one that is exempt.

One of my favourite quotes is from one of the men of Easy company. I can't remember the exact wording of the quote at the moment but I know that it talks about fear and how everyone had but they also had the training to know how to handle the fear. The quote spoke to me a lot. I mean thats not just something that can be used for fighting a war on earth, but it can also be used to fight the war that we fight for God.

Another thing that amazes me, is that a lot of soldiers in Easy company were injured and taken away to recover but then once they were half mended they up and went AWOL to get back to their men. One soldier was heard to have said (after being shot in the bum) "Hey Sarge!, You think this is a ticket home?". When told "Could be", he said "Aww s**t, I just got here". Apparently it was a common thing to have happen. That comment was said by a soldier on d-day when Easy company was attacking a fixed position that was firing guns down onto the beaches that the Americans were trying to land. They attacked that position with approximately 12 men. They succeeded in taking and destroying the guns. They were greatly down from the number of men that they should have had. Yet they won. They beat a force that outnumbered them because they had great leaders who knew what to do and when to take action. This needs to happen in the church. We don't just need the leaders that lead the church, but we need the leaders that lead the small groups within the church as well, and we need them to be strong and able to lead us well.

One of the great leaders within Easy company was a man who ended up being Major Dick Winters. He joined with the 101st airborne right at the beginning. He trained for 2 yrs then he jumped into Normandy on D-Day and he was with the regiment for the rest of the war. Major Dick Winters in someone that I look up to as he was able to do things that others may not have. He made some tough decisions, but he was always there for his men. The men of Easy company were able to trust him to do what was needed. The men in his company were sad to see him move up into regimental staff as it meant that they were left with men who more often than not they did not trust and sometimes men that were not up to the position and according to the NCO's got a lot of good men killed because of their inaction or inexperience. He was a great leader and one that we can all inspire to be like.

Isn't funny how when we think about it, the men in WWII and all wars, would have been asking God for help to win victories over their enemies. Now the interesting thing that I think about is the fact that there were probably people from both sides in WWII that were asking for God's help. Does God give His help to both sides? Does He help people to kill others while they are in a war? Now an interesting thing about that, is that in the Bible Jesus at one point talks to a soldier and yet He doesn't say "don't kill". If I am not mistaken Jesus told the soldier to do his job to the best of his ability. (You can correct me if I'm wrong).

The men of Easy company did many great things while they were in the war. They perservered through situations that many people would have not been able to endure. Something I'm not sure if a lot of people relise but the men of Easy company were just ordinary citizens. They were civilians that volunteered for the parachute infantry because they knew that if they were going to have to fight, then it may as well be fighting with the best. It warms my heart to think of the fact that these men choose to fight in the war. They could have got out of the war a lot sooner than they did. They could have made all sorts of excuses to get away from the front, but they didn't. This tells me what right do I have for making excuses that get me out of fighting my war? The war that I have with the devil every day? The soldiers on my left and my right are greater than the soldiers that were next to the men in WWII. The men in my company consist of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Men that enable me to do anything I need to. Men that lead me in the way that I need to be lead (if I let them lead me).

Many men died to make our world the way it is. People will continue dying until the day that the world is destroyed and we are taken to be with God. We need to honour the people that have died for causes worth dying for whether they be, WWII or persecution for their faith. We need to honour and remember these people so that they have not died for nothing. We need to remember these days so that the people who have survived know that we realise what they have done for us and hopefully we will remember the things that have been done so that we do not make the same mistakes that made these actions needed in the first place.

Meeting God Face-to-face

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and we started talking about meeting God face-to-face. I had never thought about it quite like I did the night. I realised that night, that I was not in a place where I wanted to be coming face-to-face with God. Unfortunately I didn't know how to get to a place where I would feel even remotely comfortable meeting with God on such intimate terms. In a way I still don't.

How do we get so that we can meet with God face-to-face? I am not entirely sure. But I know that if there are things that are stopping us from getting to that place where we can turn to God for the things we need and be comfortable (well as much as we can be anyway), then we need to deal with those things. But how can we deal with them if we don't want to face even those problems?

My friend said in that same conversation that we need to give those things that are stopping us from communing with God to God, but if we are uncomfortable meeting with God then how can we give them over to Him? How do we change our thought patterns to allow us to do those things even though we may be really uncomfortable about them? What is it the finally motivates us to get moving and actually do something about our problems?

I guess in my life I will be unable to meet with God on that intimate level until I can face the things in my life that I have been avoiding. As many or as few as they may be, sometimes the best thing is to face them head on and deal with them sooner rather than later cuz who knows what problems they may cause us in the future, for us, our husbands/wives or our kids. That is not a legacy I want to leave my kids.

Life and Problems

Many times in our lives we come across situations that we don't necessarily want to find ourselves in. So what do we do when we find ourselves in those situations? Do we try and handle them by ourselves? Do we try and find friends to help us handle them? Or do we turn to God and ask for his help in handling them? In my own life, I am a very private person so reaching out and asking anyone for help even God can be a big thing. A very big, hard thing to do. I have been Christian for most of my life. I remember giving my life to the Lord when I was little but I am unable to tell you when exactly it was. In all of those years where I have known God I don't think that I have really understood what it means to call on God for help. Even now I am still trying to get my head around the fact that God does want to hear me and He does want to help me out of situations that I have gotten myself into.

So how do we go about asking God for help? How do we know what to ask Him? How do we do it in a way that is not ramblings, but is to the point? Do our prayers need to be to the point or will God know what we are trying to say?