Theory to Praxis

I came across this quote from T.S.Elliot whilst reading The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch...

"The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyse his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief."

And as I read this quote and allowed it to sink through my defensive barriers of "I'm a pretty good Christian", it struck deep and convicted.

I have grown up - as I think most western, middle-class, Christians have - with a faith that is at least 80% intellectual, and that's a conservative estimate!

Another convicting moment was at our church retreat earlier this month, where we had to write down 30 names of people we know in Glasgow who are not believers in Jesus. I realised that I could not not even do that. It would be easy to point the finger at western Christianity, at Church, at my culture. But in all reality the fault lies with me, the responsibility lies squarely with me.

I'm not sure what I shall do with these two convictions, but this I DO know, I need to allow the Lordship of Jesus to permeate every aspect of my life. I need to adhere to the calling of Jesus revealed in the bible, not the diluted interpreted message that seeps through my religiousness.

We must believe that Jesus is indeed alive and really worth dying for, and if that is true, we MUST live like it. It is only through living a life FULLY under the Lordship of Jesus that we can ever expect to see our nation changed. To see awakening and revival.

We must. We must. We must.

Pike and Burgers

Three men have had a dream this winter...... to catch a Pike on the fly.

We have been infamous in our failure to catch any fish this winter (tiny little ones not included mike). Anyway, today the weather forecast looked great, it's Pike breeding month and I just KNEW it would be our day. We stayed up last night psyching each other up and tying little monstrosoties onto very large hooks.

Driving up to loch Lomond this morning everything looked great, not much wind, sunshine, nothing good on TV, everything was perfect.

Once kitted up we headed down to the loch to find the bay we wanted to fish flooded. Not to be dismayed we waded out into the bay. I selected a fly, clipped it onto my line and had a couple of tentative casts. Just getting into the rhythm of things, I was shaping up for another cast when I heard a frantic cry of "Andy...... Andy!!!!" behind me. I turn to see wade, his rod bending into what I thought at first was weed, but no, a tail fin appears and a splash. I couldn't believe it, less than 5 minutes into our fishing! Now, this was no whopper, but it was a fish! A tiddler by Pike standards we were both a bit nervous about landing this thing, Pike are known for their sharp teeth. Anyway, here's a picture of Wade and his quarry... Enjoy