Jimmy Needham - Nightlights

Click on the image above to listen to the album.
This album is definitely worth a listen. Not only is it musically interesting and (more importantly) fun, it clearly shows the importance of humility. The title refers to us, comparing us to God as nightlights to the sun.
Nearly every song on the album has some reference to his struggle to be humble as a successful musician.
Here are a few quotes:

Whenever I climb too high Keep my feet on the ground. And when I get full of me Turn me upside down. You know pride and not just Summer Come before the Fall. So if You that's gettin' bigger I don't mind being small.	Why are we so convinced a bigger audience Is simply common sense to have? Maybe success is measured best By nothing less than our obedience.
Half the time I forget that I should trust in You.                           Nothing else will do                           But have a willing heart                           And leave the rest up to You.
Let's part the clouds And show the world the Son.	Be Thou exalted over my reputation, 'Cause applause is a poor form of soul medication.

Click on a quote to hear the song it's from.
I know that's a lot of quotes, but the album is riddled with it. It's a real comfort to know that even people we admire struggle with things like this. But with that comes the challenge that Jimmy sets himself in the fourth track: "Help me get back to the reason I sing for you."

International Roast

Believe it or not, this actually happened to me.
I was visiting a church in Newcastle, and was sharing my long-awaited coffee time with another drummer. In amongst our—as the layman would say—"drummer talk", the topic of the supremacy of "real" coffee to instant came up. Overhearing our conversation, a passing coffee connoisseur proudly boasted that he had never, and never would, have instant coffee—all the while making and, without batting an eyelid, drinking a mug of International Roast.
Oblivious to our stunned and bewildered silence, our connaisseur de café left us.
To be fair, he was a twelve-year-old boy, or twelve-ish.
Much discussion followed, and we decided that he must've been under the impression that instant coffee was the stuff that came in sachets. And that everything else was "real". It was, and remains to be, the only logical explanation for such an act of blasphème de café.

But, there is a lesson to be learnt here. This boy honestly believed that he had managed to avoid the very thing he was feeding himself with.
How often do we convince ourselves that we don't lie, or cheat, or covet, or judge, or idolise, or a multitude of other undesirable clichés, because we just don't realise?

One of my biggest regrets in life is that I didn't correct this boy right there on the spot, maybe saving him a life time of ignorance on a most important matter.
Luckily for us, God isn't easily bewildered, and if we let him, he'll explain.

The moral of the story?

Find me.

Sometimes when we are doing life God seems quiet, distant and anything but present. We might feel like he is hiding from us. Chances are it is more like us hiding from God behind a heap of indifference (plain ignoring Him) and sin. Sin has a way of piling up and creating a wall between us and God.
As a teenager (it really was not that long ago!!) I recall hanging onto some promises of God when I had times of not sensing His presence in my life.

Proverbs 8:17 
 ¹⁷ “I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me.

Jeremiah 29:13

¹³ If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

The passages suggest that the ball is in our court, there are some things that we need to do. 
love
search
look
My experience has been that God is faithful to His promise. Spend some time with God and allow Him to take hold of your sin, love Him because he has provided a way for you to be free from sin. Search for Him, start in His word the Bible and allow Him to speak love and wisdom into your life. Look for God in your everyday - he is there.

My Bridge

"Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse..." - Deuteronomy 21:23b

I want to introduce you guys to "Bridge to life" by Gospel Graffiti. You can read more about them by going to their website GGcrew.com The video can be viewed here.

Yes it is true. Sin opened a void between us and the Father. Yep. Eve ate the fruit. Cain killed Abel... the list goes on and on. We are imperfect. We sin. BUT God had a plan. He hasn't nor will he ever give up on us. He will never turn from us. We have sinned against God in every way shape and form. World Wars, death, destruction and sadness fill the news. But God will not give up.

God's plan was a great one: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 Jesus died on the cross for my sin, for your sin, for the world's sin.

You may wonder why I started this post with a verse from Deuteronomy. Well Deuteronomy is a book of Law. It's in the Old Testament (before Jesus) However, it applied very much to the life of Jesus. "Anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse." Jesus was hung on the wood of a tree, on the crucifix and suffered one of the slowest and most agonising deaths. He suffered the curse and the wrath of God. But it wasn't for his sins he was hung, it was for mine. Jesus is the "Bridge to life." Let's cross that bridge together... I dare you.

Your's in Christ,

Andrea :)

When Things Don't Make Sense

The universe is ordered.
But sometimes, this order can be difficult to see. The Bible tells us that God created the Heavens and the Earth.
Now, logically:

• Before Earth could be created, He had to invent time, and the spatial dimensions.

You need a canvas before you can paint.
So far, so good.
But time is measurable, so:

• Before He could invent Time, He had to invent Mathematics.

And:

• Before He could invent Mathematics, He had to invent Invention.

And of course, here logic is thrown out the window, because you cannot invent something before you invent Time, because Time hasn't been invented yet. And how can Invention be invented when it requires itself to pre-exist itself?
Maybe it all happened with exactness of simultaneity that we can't imagine.
But Simultaneity requires Time, Time requires Mathematics, Mathematics requires Invention, and Invention requires Invention, which implies Simultaneity.
And all of that requires Requirement, which God invented.
God is big.
I don't mean as big as a house. Not as big as a planet.
If you gathered every atom in the universe together, it still can't be as big as God.
Maybe if we include the Fourth Dimension, Time, and take every atom at every infinitely divisible point in time?
No.
God can't be measured in 3 dimensions, 4 dimensions, or even a thousand hypothetical dimensions.
God made it all.
He made us knowing full well that there is no way that we could ever hold in our chemical heads the tiniest iota of who He is. Bound by Time and Space, we can't even begin to imagine God, who is outside, and created, both.
We try. But pictures of the Old Bearded Bloke, the most descriptive and eloquent psalms, and even intense emotional experiences fall infinitely short.

But He gives us clues.
The universe is ordered. If anyone ever tells you that science has disproved God, they are an idiot. God is the reason that science exists. Science is the measurement and understanding of God's Ordered Creation. Without God, there could be no order, and no creation.

But how can the universe be ordered and logical, if the invention of Time and Space and Numbers and Invention simply doesn't make logical sense?

God is big.

If we can't comprehend God, does it mean He doesn't exist? If we can't comprehend how (or why) He created the universe does that mean it doesn't exist? Or anything outside the Order and Logic that the universe was given, can't have taken place?
If we can't comprehend life outside of Time and Space (Eternity), then does that mean it doesn't exist?

He invented Logic, and he can screw with it as he pleases.

Follow me.

John 10:27
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.


Jesus compares us to sheep - not the most intelligent of animals. But the sheep have something going for them, they know the shepherds voice and they follow Him. He is the one who cares for them, lets them rest in green pastures, leads them by peaceful streams and along right paths. He offers them protection, honour and a place in eternity with Him forever.


Do you know who your following? If you do, do you know where they are leading you?
Yes, I know the picture is of geese, but they are following each other rather nicely don't you think?


I want to introduce you to BibleGateway, which is an online bible resource. It has a stack of different bible versions and the ability to search by keywords which is pretty helpful when part of a bible verse comes to mind but the rest doesn't. It also has Topic Index and Passage Lookup features. 
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.


Get into God's word this week! 

What is LOVE?

Hey guys! Its Andrea here with a cool link that you may like to check out. This is an awesome video done to the song "Love" by Jaeson Ma. Scroll over "Love" and click to view the video.

Romans 5:8 is a really well known verse that says: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." So guys as this video made me think about my own thoughts on what love is, I turned to "The very definition of love... Jesus Christ" The sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross was out of love for the whole world! So share the love around so that we may know perfect love!

Iv'e also included a link to Jaeson Ma's website. Just scroll over his name and click to view!

Until next time! Yours in Christ,

Andrea :)