danger - God at work!

Strange. Very strange!

You know how in yesterday's post, I expanded a bit on Psalm 130?

I'd been speaking on that psalm, you may recall, at the lunch-time service yesterday. And at night that psalm was on my mind again as I wrote the post.

Today I was at a funeral. A sort of slightly distant second or third cousin (I'm never sure exactly which), and probably at least 'once removed'. Well, completely removed from us all, I suppose, in the light of her having died!

And it was from this psalm once again that the minister leading the service read.

Strange, as I say. It felt like the Lord was laying this psalm very carefully on my heart.

And then at night as I went to our halls for the last of the Alpha course we've been running here, I chanced to meet a person who is well and truly in 'the depths': to use the phrase the psalmist used.

I know her situation and I know the huge great burdens that she bears. Things have only got worse, I suspect, since I saw her last.

We chatted for quite a while and then I simply told her that I thought the Lord had given me a word for her. Psalm 130.

What to do when you're in the depths. Pray. Wait. Hope.

Sometimes it's like that. The Lord lays a word on our hearts. So that we can give it to another.

Life as the people of God is far from dull!

Which is pretty much what I was trying to say when I spoke in the last of the 'Alpha' talks tonight.

The last session aired the question "What is the church?" which is not the most scintillating title for the climax to the course!

But it was a good time and I think they got the message annd found themselves enthused. So many people have got the wrong impression about the church. They think it's a great institution, but - as they invariably go on to indicate - who wants to live in an institution?

No one in their right mind. And if that's your view of what the church is, no wonder people run the proverbial mile.

It's been a great course, and the impact on the lives of those who've been along has been huge.

I'm hoping that loads of folk will be out at our worship on Sunday night when we'll all get the chance to hear a bit about all that's been going on, and celebrate together what wonderful things the Lord continues to do.

We've also got the P7 pupils from the local school coming along next week for a 90-minute Christmas presentation which we do for them.

There's a team of seven involved and those who were able met today to prepare and pray. It's a thrill to be involved like this and to have this sort of chance to speak of Christmas and just what it really means.

The word of God is not chained.

How very true that is! We simply let it loose and ... well, the Lord does the rest.

Alpha. The school. This lady with all of her problems.

We simply feed them the Word.

And that's more than enough of a platform for the Spirit of God to start breathing the life of the Lord into so many people's hearts.

Please, Lord, keep on doing just that!

Like Oliver Twist, we're always greedy for more!