Can I change? Can the identity I call my "self" change? I got thinking about this after talking to various people, who are convinced that people can be so set in their ways that they have lost the ability to change.
But I for one hope that I can change. There are things in my character that I know still aren't right, and I know that one day they'll be dealt with.
The Bible says I can change. In fact, it commands it. "Be transformed by the renewing of your minds" (Romans 12:2). That doesn't sound like just a suggestion to me. So not only is it possible, but it's commanded of us! I suspect also that a "transformation" is much more than a little makeover. "Be transformed" - be made totally different. Be changed, completely.
But how many of us actually want to be changed? Or even see change as a necessary thing?
Do we realise how much of us isn't like Jesus? Do we accept that we need to change? Do we believe it's even possible?
Is it that, we as Christians, find it harder to accept that we can change, than a murderer who has found Jesus, or a drug addict who overcomes their addiction through Jesus' love, or an alcoholic who finds Jesus and a new will to live?
Do we think that Jesus doesn't have time for our character flaws, doesn't bother with our "small" needs, that He's more concerned with the "greater" needs of addicts and murderers? No. A murderer gave his life to Jesus while they hung, dying, at Calvary. That should tell us, should affirm to us, that nothing is impossible for God. Nothing is too hard for God.
Not that he doesn't care about the needs of those who consider themselves as "better" than murderers!
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
You can imagine a scale, reaching from down here on earth, right up to the heavens. God is at the top of that scale of "goodness". We are ALL down here on earth. By comparision, all humans are on the same level.
I suspect that if we were perfect, the earth would no longer be able to hold us here...
We, by comparision to God, are no better than thieves, rapists, murderers, addicts. We all fall short, and we all need to change. Praise God that we are saved by the blood of Jesus, that we have a hope!
But we must believe that we can change. We must have faith for it!
If we say that somebody can't change, that they are stuck in their ways, then we are disregarding what the Bible says and our unbelief can stop Jesus from affecting a change in that person.
We need to believe what the Bible says, that we can be transformed - changed completely - by the power of God, our Living God.
Nothing is impossible for God.
And it's not by our own strength that this change happens. "Not by strength, nor by might, but by My power," says the Lord. God can change us. He can make us see who we are supposed to be in Him. He shows us what parts of us are lies. He shows us that we can change. And then, He changes us.
We are no longer who we were, who the world made us. We become who God intended us to be. And who better for us to be!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
Yesterdays
I've just been and had a look at the display of handicraft here at the Culture Centre. It's pretty impressive. I kinda wish I'd been more aware of what was on offer, there were pieces of stained glass and other glass-work, dressmaking, feltmaking, so much art and craft that my little skirts seemed to fade into the background even though I was so proud of them! There was just so much more than I realised.
Yesterday was my last Finnish lesson. We had a little party, and ate food, and tried to converse in Finnish - some of my classmates were definitely more competent at it than me - and we were all a little sad at the end. We've exchanged email addresses, and I hope we keep in touch, at the very least for as long as we're here in Iisalmi! But the whole thing has got me thinking about going home, and my hopes and fears in that. I actually had cravings for England yesterday, which made Steve laugh. (So far, only sausage rolls...)
And I got a surprise at the youth band practice. Hanna wants me to learn and sing a song (in Finnish) that no-body else wants to master. She played it me on a CD and my first reactions were disbelief, shock, is she mad? But I think I'm conquering it. There's some difficult words, and an even trickier melody, and I've got to really sing this one in a way as to be able to completely convince people that I totally understand what it's saying. But it feels a bit weird, that no-body else can or wants to try and sing this song - so they get the foreigner to try?! Well, it's certainly made me rise to the challenge...
Oh yes, and a little footnote... we had another snowstorm today. Very very strange.
Yesterday was my last Finnish lesson. We had a little party, and ate food, and tried to converse in Finnish - some of my classmates were definitely more competent at it than me - and we were all a little sad at the end. We've exchanged email addresses, and I hope we keep in touch, at the very least for as long as we're here in Iisalmi! But the whole thing has got me thinking about going home, and my hopes and fears in that. I actually had cravings for England yesterday, which made Steve laugh. (So far, only sausage rolls...)
And I got a surprise at the youth band practice. Hanna wants me to learn and sing a song (in Finnish) that no-body else wants to master. She played it me on a CD and my first reactions were disbelief, shock, is she mad? But I think I'm conquering it. There's some difficult words, and an even trickier melody, and I've got to really sing this one in a way as to be able to completely convince people that I totally understand what it's saying. But it feels a bit weird, that no-body else can or wants to try and sing this song - so they get the foreigner to try?! Well, it's certainly made me rise to the challenge...
Oh yes, and a little footnote... we had another snowstorm today. Very very strange.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
pictures of freedom
i wanted to write down a picture i had, about freedom.
i was lying in bed on saturday night, thinking about Easter Sunday. the choir was going to sing, and i was playing bass, and i wondered what it would take for the girls in the choir to really feel free. isn't that what Easter is about, anyway? freedom?
but then i started dreaming or daydreaming or something.
i was in a huge building. i knew all of the corridors, all of the rooms, i knew where everything went and where everything lived. this was my life. my whole life. and this was my prison.
and then, suddenly, one day, i wasn't there any more. i was outside. somebody had opened the door and let me out. and outside it was a beautiful sunny day, and as far as i could see there was grass and plains. so beautiful. then i realised i couldn't go back inside, because the door was locked. i was stuck, in freedom. the walls of the building i knew so well were very high - no chance of me climbing back in, and the door was tough and strong, no chance of me breaking it down. i was outside, and that was that. i had been freed, and suddenly freedom was scary.
so i started building a fence in my new freedom, a little fence to make me feel safer. i still wanted to be in control of my freedom, and wanted boundaries that would make me feel comfortable. my fences were very nice.
but i'd put myself back in a prison, this time of my own making. i'd also refused God's offer of true freedom, and made pointless the suffering He went through on the Cross.
then God showed me what true freedom was, how it felt, and why He wanted me to be free. suddenly i was running across the plains, like wild horses run - for the sheer joy of it! breathing, living, excited, ALIVE. and all for the sheer joy of it! i realised freedom wasn't something to be scared of, it was something to relish, to enjoy, to live in, to breathe in and out in, to just BE in. and i loved the running, the feeling of breathlessness that comes with the sheer exuberance of living and breathing and being alive.
so wonderful!
after thinking about this most of the night, i started thinking how it related to praise, and why we praise God. so many songs that we sing say something along the lines of "we praise You for what You have done" but i never really dwell on what it is that He has done. so what has God done? He has set us free, given us the opportunity to really be free, to run and breathe and live and be really truly alive. we praise God first and foremost because He is worth it. we praise His name, and we give thanks because He has set us free. i'm so grateful that here there is no law against praising God, that i'm allowed to praise in freedom from the state.
praise God, i'm free!
i was lying in bed on saturday night, thinking about Easter Sunday. the choir was going to sing, and i was playing bass, and i wondered what it would take for the girls in the choir to really feel free. isn't that what Easter is about, anyway? freedom?
but then i started dreaming or daydreaming or something.
i was in a huge building. i knew all of the corridors, all of the rooms, i knew where everything went and where everything lived. this was my life. my whole life. and this was my prison.
and then, suddenly, one day, i wasn't there any more. i was outside. somebody had opened the door and let me out. and outside it was a beautiful sunny day, and as far as i could see there was grass and plains. so beautiful. then i realised i couldn't go back inside, because the door was locked. i was stuck, in freedom. the walls of the building i knew so well were very high - no chance of me climbing back in, and the door was tough and strong, no chance of me breaking it down. i was outside, and that was that. i had been freed, and suddenly freedom was scary.
so i started building a fence in my new freedom, a little fence to make me feel safer. i still wanted to be in control of my freedom, and wanted boundaries that would make me feel comfortable. my fences were very nice.
but i'd put myself back in a prison, this time of my own making. i'd also refused God's offer of true freedom, and made pointless the suffering He went through on the Cross.
then God showed me what true freedom was, how it felt, and why He wanted me to be free. suddenly i was running across the plains, like wild horses run - for the sheer joy of it! breathing, living, excited, ALIVE. and all for the sheer joy of it! i realised freedom wasn't something to be scared of, it was something to relish, to enjoy, to live in, to breathe in and out in, to just BE in. and i loved the running, the feeling of breathlessness that comes with the sheer exuberance of living and breathing and being alive.
so wonderful!
after thinking about this most of the night, i started thinking how it related to praise, and why we praise God. so many songs that we sing say something along the lines of "we praise You for what You have done" but i never really dwell on what it is that He has done. so what has God done? He has set us free, given us the opportunity to really be free, to run and breathe and live and be really truly alive. we praise God first and foremost because He is worth it. we praise His name, and we give thanks because He has set us free. i'm so grateful that here there is no law against praising God, that i'm allowed to praise in freedom from the state.
praise God, i'm free!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
what jeni did
there's a couple of posts below with pictures of the fabric i've been painting over the last week or so, but i realised that i've not really updated from finland for a while.
i guess the biggest thing is that it's still snowing.
yes, in april. we're gonna have easter with snow!! how weird will that be...
the PA in church is up and running, except now the mixing desk is dying a slow a painful death. which means an opportunity to buy a new one! hurrah! we also now have foldback. now THAT's gonna be fun. it works, although one of the mixer channels doesn't work :( so we only have one foldback mix. but hopefully it will help the various music groups that sing at church.
it was great on monday night, i have been coerced into playing bass on sunday with the choir (so no mic for me) and i was right next to a foldback speaker, the guitar amp, the piano and with the choir behind me so i was able to sing my heart out. i love the freedom that i feel when i can really sing out like that :) and when i spoke to steve later, i asked whether he could hear my voice through the sound, and he could still! he was pleased that i was actually singing like i could, rather than holding back. and i'm pleased, because i'm singing another part to the choir so even though i won't have a microphone, the congregation will still hear my part.
i guess the biggest thing is that it's still snowing.
yes, in april. we're gonna have easter with snow!! how weird will that be...
the PA in church is up and running, except now the mixing desk is dying a slow a painful death. which means an opportunity to buy a new one! hurrah! we also now have foldback. now THAT's gonna be fun. it works, although one of the mixer channels doesn't work :( so we only have one foldback mix. but hopefully it will help the various music groups that sing at church.
it was great on monday night, i have been coerced into playing bass on sunday with the choir (so no mic for me) and i was right next to a foldback speaker, the guitar amp, the piano and with the choir behind me so i was able to sing my heart out. i love the freedom that i feel when i can really sing out like that :) and when i spoke to steve later, i asked whether he could hear my voice through the sound, and he could still! he was pleased that i was actually singing like i could, rather than holding back. and i'm pleased, because i'm singing another part to the choir so even though i won't have a microphone, the congregation will still hear my part.
more pics
this is what i did while i was learning about fabric graphics. fabric for 2 skirts! the pink background was the first part (that was so much fun) and then learning how to create stencils and using the right goo to stencil on the patterns. hurrah- and now i have 2 summer skirts, plus a matching pink bag :) - pictures later once my model has a free day and it's stopped snowing so we can take pictures in the sunshine!
pictures of fabric graphics
this is what i've been doing today in the basement at church :) - i've been having fun! my friend Salla came along too, and we spent a couple of hours painting the backgrounds for some banners for church. i've only just learnt how to do this, so to be asked to use my new skill for church is great!
this one is a large 2x3m banner for the front of church, i stencilled the cross on today. it'll be up there hanging on Easter sunday!
and this is the beginning of a pastel piece for one of the pastors and his wife, Charles and Paula. they have been such great friends to us while we've been here in Iisalmi, andi wanted to give something back to them.
this one is a large 2x3m banner for the front of church, i stencilled the cross on today. it'll be up there hanging on Easter sunday!
and this is the beginning of a pastel piece for one of the pastors and his wife, Charles and Paula. they have been such great friends to us while we've been here in Iisalmi, andi wanted to give something back to them.
Monday, April 03, 2006
radical Christians
maybe I'll talk about what radical means.
radical comes from the word "root". so, to be a radical Christian you need to be rooted. rooted in what? rooted in the Word of God, and rooted in your faith in Jesus as your Saviour. once you are firmly rooted, you have all the nourishment you need, drawing from the deep wells of God's grace and mercy and love, to be a "radical" "out there" passionate living Christian!
radical comes from the word "root". so, to be a radical Christian you need to be rooted. rooted in what? rooted in the Word of God, and rooted in your faith in Jesus as your Saviour. once you are firmly rooted, you have all the nourishment you need, drawing from the deep wells of God's grace and mercy and love, to be a "radical" "out there" passionate living Christian!
why do i have a second blog, and what am i going to write about...
what to write about. so many things happen on a daily basis. saturday i spent most of the day here at Genelec on the internet, sunday we went skiing, today i've been doing my english tutoring, and now i'm killing time waiting for cake. mmm cake.
why do i have a second blog, and what am i going to write about...
what to write about. so many things happen on a daily basis. saturday i spent most of the day here at Genelec on the internet, sunday we went skiing, today i've been doing my english tutoring, and now i'm killing time waiting for cake. mmm cake.
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