Life Receipt ?

I watched this new Samsung phone advert and was struck by the main catchphrases - 'a world of possibilities, being in the know, being in control, and LIVE LIFE ON YOUR TERMS'. Really on my own terms?! It lead me to thinking about what happens if something goes wrong with the phone - you need it fixing or want a replacement and so you return it to the phone store - so much for being in control; that is until something goes wrong! It's the same thing with most items which you might purchase; consumer rights now mean we can return items we buy even if 'the colour just didn't match my eyes' and you can get your money back. Of course if, like the advert, i was in the know, in control, and living life on my own terms surely this would mean i could choose how i wanted my life to plan out, i would of course choose that my phone didn't break and that i could be in control of that too! Everything is fine until i need help - i am not in the know to be able to fix the phone, i am not in control in whether or not something might go wrong, and life isn't on my terms because when it comes to the fixing or replacement i definitely wouldn't choose the extra costs that always get added on. But here is the point; everything is fine until i need help.

It is fairly impossible to get through life without needing help, perhaps it is just me, but i know i need it - all the time! However unlike a shop brought phone with life if something goes wrong or needs fixing there isn't an easy returns policy that gets you a refund as long as you have the receipt! Sometimes in life things don't work out the way you want them to, bad choices are made, decisions that take us down the wrong paths, and often things are just out of our control.

That's when i realise how useless it is trying to live life always in the know, in control, and living it on my terms - it won't work. But living it on God's terms does! You don't have to be in the know or in control because God is - what better then to let the Creator, the Man Upstairs, the Maker of Heave and Earth be in control. He is in the know; about yesterday, about today, and about what will happen tomorrow. Not only that but with him there is a Life Receipt - Jesus. You can take that messed up, broken, sinful, hurting, rejected, painful, regret-filled life back to God's store and in exchange for Jesus, your Life Receipt, you get a guilt-free, renewed, fresh, ETERNAL life again. Jesus - the only way to exchange your old life for a brand new one.

an Ode to Coffee

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee from edge to edge and from rim to base

My hands do reach, when eyes can not yet see

For the warmth so freely given

I love thee to the level of every early morning

Most needed, in those hours when a haze still covers.

I love thee freely, as    

I love thee completely,

I love thee with the heart like many an office worker

In my reawakening state, and with my digestive too.

I love thee with a love I find hard to break

I love thee with the breath of a cold morning, at the strike of 11am

When the afternoon sleep descends upon me

When I need thine strong hands to hold my head up for me

I love thee with every sip I take, like a magic touch you awaken me

I shall but love thee just as much tomorrow morning

Oh coffee how I love thee.

My birthing

So here we go first blog and already i have a confession. I used to think people who blogged either had too much time on their hands or just liked talking too much - or both. How could anyone really think their life was so exciting that they needed to tell the whole world! But i am happy to say my opinions have changed since then and recently i have found myself reading other people's blogs (about their interesting exciting lives!) and finding myself wishing i could make public some of my musings and thoughts. So here i am catching up with the rest of the world and being birthed into the land of Bloggerdom.

My posts shall probably just be the random mumblings of myself, and some grumblings too i'm sure, mixed in with (hopefully) some inspiring life changing God stuff and perhaps poems or short stories i have written. So i embark on a new journey in life, well ok perhaps not quite so dramatic, but i do feel an odd sense of excitement about it all. Perhaps after i press the 'publish post' button i'll suddenly feel i have changed, i will have to run to look in the mirror to see if i look like i belong to the blogger world and other bloggers will be able to know i am one of them with one look! Or perhaps not...i will just have to wait and see!

I think one of the reasons i began to be drawn over to the 'dark side' was, when recently, i made a few changes in my life. I moved back into christian community (another post, another day) after having grown up in christian community until the age of 18 and then moving to live with 2 friends for two years (again another post, another day); and even though that was a few months ago i wish now i had documented the move, the change and all my thoughts. I would like to have been able to look back to everything i was going through at the start and see the difference now! So i am hoping this blog might in one way help towards that documenting down all the different changes in my life and so i can look back in months or years even and, i am sure, be amazed at all God has done through that time.

Until next time my blogging family!