Thursday, September 28, 2006

Job Search Episode 3: The Interview Strikes back

Having made it through the tortuous group interview as Asda (we made towers of cards with beanie babies in them!) I'm waiting for a phone call to organise an interview to work in their Optical Department. I'm not sure when it's going to be, but am excited at the prospect of work! Please do pray I lift the entire thing up to God, and go into it knowing he is with me both during it & in the decision after.

In my quiet time this morning I really felt God pressing me to be humbly open to his leading at all times. I know there's a job out there for me, and that God'll point it out to me - I just hope and pray God helps me to be humble enough to accept what he puts before me.


TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Blogging to Worship God

I've just finished reading this article by Bob Kauflin called Blogging to Worship God and I really want to recommend it to all of you who read or write blogs. It's really made me think about my motivations behind blogging, what I'm seeking to achieve through my blog, and above all - am I seeking to glorify God through my blog's contents?

I found it challenging & thought-provoking. Making me think seriously about how often I check for comments, and whether at the base of it, I'm looking for my or God's glory through what I blog.

Bob Kauflin writes humbly and backs up his points from scripture. If you a) care for Jesus Christ as your Lord & Saviour, and b) want to glorify him, then have a read. Have an open heart & mind, test all he says by the Holy Spirit & take on board what he lays on your heart.

'So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God'
-- 1 Corinthians 10:31 --

Remember that blogging, if part of our lives, is part of our worship to God. Do it for his glory.

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Why do I not want to make time for God?

Reading Cat's blog just now reminded me of something that seems to be hitting home a lot lately; and that is, 'why do I not want to dedicate time to chill with God at times?'. Sometimes I seem so on fire for God, oozing his praise from every pore, and other times I get distracted by the merest thing & find myself making excuses not to spend time with him!

But that's totally crazy! We're talking about the God of the universe, eternal God, sovereign ruler, loving saviour, mighty victor; and the greatest friend I could ever hope for. And so this gets me thinking: what are the reasons and contributing factors to this lack of passion after God? Why is the passion there one minute, and not there the next?

Yet, I've already said it - getting distracted. The enemy's main aim in my life, I know, is to distract me from the guidance of God & to lead my thoughts down other avenues - sinful ones. And my thinking that it's not something I might label as 'a sin' is althemore dangerous! What is this? It's me trusting in my own understanding of events & my thinking; not trusting God for the discernment I desperately need to be able to know God's will from the enemy's temptations.

So back to the original question, 'why do I not want to dedicate time to chill with God at times?' When the enemy tries to redirect your thoughts from God & off onto something else, have you ever noticed that it always seems to be an enticing idea? It's never a case of just 'you could do this instead'. It's always that much more alluring or enticing, 'what about doing that - you know you like that, it makes you feel happy & feel good'.

Why do I seem to want the enemy's temptation over my soul's nurturing? Because often the desires of my mind have the frightening ability to over-rule the deep cry of my heart. But hang on a minute. That's sin. And in Christ, I'm free'd from sin. So why am I still wanting to do this? Because sin is all we knew before we knew Christ - we felt safe in it - it was well-known ground. To take Christ's hand each day and walk with him into sometimes unknown territory is a step we must make each and every day if we're wanting to go deeper into the faith & life of glory that he's called us to. So what can we do? The writer of Colossians puts it simply:

'Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature...'
-- Colossians 3v5 --

And how to put these things in our nature to death? Not in my strength, I know. Because each time I try that tack, I just fall right on my face, closely followed by the enemy going 'Hah!' at me. No, it has to be in God's strength alone, because above and beyond the power of sinful desire in your mind stands God's power & passion after his glory in your life. And that means the power to renew your mind! The writer of Romans calls to the reading believers:

'Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.'
-- Romans 12v2 --

Hang on, that said 'God's will - his good, pleasing and perfect will.' Yes, it did. Read it again. God's will is not boring, irrelevant or anything else the enemy may try to convince you of. It is powerful, awesome, and an immense priviledge to be part of. Don't let him convince you otherwise. I find he tries each & every day. For you maybe less so, but his aim is always the same - draw your trust and focus from God, place it in something else & then to let you founder when you wonder why your passion's gone.

God's spirit will transform your mind as you ask him, but I find more and more that there are practical steps we need to make to aid this! It's never a case of 'step back & let the spirit move' - no. That's laziness & arrogance to think we can order the spirit around. He works to the glory of the Father in our lives, not to pander to our desires. So, practical things? Schedule time in the day for him if you're not good at sitting down with him. If you make the time for God - show him you're willing - he'll teach you & draw you on after him. Other things I find help include calling out to God bluntly for passion after his name to do something for his glory! I've lost count of the pieces of coursework, lab experiments, coffee chats and conversations that've been grabbed by God & used for his glory because I handed the reins over to him.

Yet that's only part of the story. The enemy's still going to put tempting ideas in our minds. If we're to put the enemy's temptations to the side, then we need to fill our minds with the sheer awesomeness of God's plan & will. If you're given the option of a holiday in Swindon Town Centre compared with a paid holiday in the bahamas, which would you choose? I'd personally go for the Bahamas. Why that decision? Because I know it's the better choice! Likewise, if we're to choose time with God over something put forward by the enemy, we need to know in our hearts that time with spent with God is so much more valuable & worthwhile than whiling away our free time doing something else.

Enough of my thinking there I think, but I guess that's simply it; if I'm to choose time with God over the fleeting wasted time the enemy'd have me indulge in, I need to cherish the gloriousness of God, his surpassing greatness, his goodness, his love for me & recognise afresh - each and every day - that his plan for me is not boring or monotonous in the slightest. No! Each day holds fresh teaching & challenges straight from him. But am I willing to take them? I hope & pray so. And I hope and pray you do also.

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Monday, September 18, 2006

Spooks is back!

















The new series started yesterday evening with a fantastic 2-part'er. Just as well we had BBC 3, is all I have to say! Not sure I could have waited until Tuesday at 9pm ;)

Looking forward to next Monday now for the next episode. *sighs* a whole 6 days...

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Connie won!

'How do you solve a problem like Maria?'

It's been virtually compulsory watching in the Caird household for the last x weeks, but it's now over.

Connie won, woo!!!!!!!! Nuff' said.

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Job Search Episode 2: The Search Continues...

Having badgered Dolby, I now I know I sadly didn't get the job with PCB work. Aaah well, onward goes the search! I've made some more applications and phone calls, so I'll keep searching. All the while, I'm reminded that God said earlier in the summer that he would provide a job for me - so why should I doubt him?

The resounding answer from my soul is that I shouldn't, though I can't see where the blessed job will come from! I know for certain that he will; a) answer all my prayers, and b) be totally faithful in all things I endeavour for him. But why trust? Simply this: you look to the cross.

And there, on that cursed tree, Jesus died for me. It was there and then that God's love and faithfulness were shown incarnate in Jesus death for me.

So, why doubt him? I see no reason :)

Onward with the search!!

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Nothing? Absoultely nothing!

This evening I got a text from a friend asking me for the passage that talks about nothing being able to separate us from the love of God; here it is:

'For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, neither any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'
-- Romans 8v38-39 --

Here is a passionate follower of Jesus, stating his faith to his brothers and sisters in Christ. He is not merely re-telling stories or repeating carefully memorised truths from the depths of his memories. No, he is speaking of the power of the love of God, in Jesus, from the depths of his heart - fresh as the dew at dawn. And in the heat of being on fire for God, he speaks of what cannot separate us from the love of God! Time for a whistle-stop tour of his statement.

Neither:

Death, nor life: Not how we are now, or how we shall be after death can separate us from God's love.

Angels nor Demons: Not the creatures that serve God night and day, nor the ones he threw out of heaven when they set their minds to overthrow him. Neither of these sets of angelic/demonic beings can separate us from God's love.

Present nor the future: Not what we're going through now, or what events lie ahead of us - sin included, can separate us from God's love.

Any powers: Not even the power of the devil himself can separate you from the love of God.

Height nor Depth: Even if you're on the other side of the world, in the deepest canyon, the darkest hole, or on the highest mountain; distance is no obstacle to the love of God, nor is it a hinderance to his covenant with you.


Anything else in all creation: And just when you'd thought the writer had exhausted the possibilities, he states the gloriously wonderful truth - that nothing else can separate us from the love of God - nothing in all creation. Nothing man-formed, man-said, nature-derived or anything else.


But why can nothing separate us from the love of God? The writer concludes by saying:

'...will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord'


When Jesus died on the cross, he sealed his love for us there and then for eternity. Not, so that one day sin could take it from us, or that someone's scathing remark could make us doubt it, or that a personal tragedy should prove his love otherwise. Though it's hard to see at times, God's love for you stands firm throughout all things; often, most poignantly, when we need to trust it the most. I'm reminded of the wonderful hymn that has the line:

'I will not trust the sweetest 'frain, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.'

This is the essence of the hope we hold in Jesus! Our hope and salvation stands on the love of God giving to us the one thing that this world and all its evil cannot take from us; his love. So don't believe the enemy's lies, God's love stands as firmly for you now as it always has.

Be encouraged, that nothing in this world, under or over it has the power to separate you from the love of God. Why? Because it's in Jesus sacrifice that it was sealed for us.

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

5.45am


'Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched atm. Nothing is too hard for you.'
-- Jeremiah 32v17 --

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Weddings, wine and waxing lyrical with old mates

Have finally got round to writing about this weekend just passed! It involved leaving on Friday to embark on a joyous 7 hour train journey to Edinburgh. On the way up I had a text conversation with a friend of mine in Stirling called EmJ (Whizz Kids team '06) and we arranged to meet up in Edinburgh when I got there. Bargain! So we caught up over a drink in a fancy shmansee restaraunt (noovoh cuisine and all that) and then carried onto my friend Ross (Gap Year Pal) and waxed lyrical till the wee hours.

Not the best idea in retrospect, as was up 5.30-6am to get ready to leave for the wedding. But there you go.

The wedding was fab, seeing Pete and Fran looking awesome, and once again seeing God at the centre of the wedding. I've never got over how much more beautiful a christian couple looks when they're joined in God's presence & for his glory. I guess it's because they know they've got him smiling on them, rooting them on, and guiding them by his hand. One day, I hope and pray I'll know this too!



Much Ceileidgh'ing (Scottish dancing, you English people don't know what you're missing! ;) later, Ross and I headed off back to Edinburgh via Nethy (my home away from home, Gap year place) and just enjoyed being there again. Who knows, one day I might end up back there. Ross and I continue to joke that once we're done with the 'real world' we'll go back and become instuctors!

After church in the morning, I grabbed a train home and managed to get back mid-evening as the train was delayed - of all things, by someone jay-walking on the track! It made me smile, anyhoo ;) Just in time, I found, to get a good chat with the couple that run the school I'll be working in next February! What a coincidence, eh?

Right, without further ado, the day calls. We've already dug up the drive and placed 20 feet of anti-weed matting down, but there's more to do!! Like rest, for one thing...

Shall keep you all up to date on the job status - I get phoned back by Dolby hopefully by the end of the week. Exciting stuff!! Oh yeah, the interview went really well. Quite enjoyed it, and shall post about the job itself if the answer's a 'yes'.

In the words of the immortal dude wot was once in a film, 'blog it again, Sam'

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

Monday, September 04, 2006

The way for me to go

New poem hot off the press, man I just love how God takes something like simply playing worship music and turns it into worship! Totally mad I know, but then, that's our God!! :D

The Way for me to go

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal

The way for me to go

Just playing a song in a worship book, the name I forget, but the theme of Jesus dying for us before we even knew him, stuck in my head. This poem/song's the overflow that came from writing it down.

The Way for me to go

'You did not wait for me to come
to stand at calvary's tree
nor hear the words you sought to hear
that I would follow thee
but took the shame upon yourself
that rightly clung to me
that I might one day see the way
you paved for me to go

You did not wait for them to come
to hear you words of life
nor hide yourself from hungry souls
that wallowed in their strife
but gave yourself each day afresh
to open wide their eyes
that that day they might see the way
you paved for them to go

You did not wait for me to come
into this world of sin
nor grow enough to understand
the state my soul was in
but gave your life for me before
sin's clutches I was in
that I might one day see the way
you paved for me to go

You did not wait for them to see
their scorning of your way
nor hold back grace from sinners' hearts
that bid you die that day
and with that cry you bade him grant
'forgive them what they say'
that they might one day walk the way
you paved for them to go

May I not ignore what I now see
the cost that you once paid
nor hold back the freedom, bought for me
when Jesus' body lay
upon that cross, 'It's done', the cry
no longer there he stayed
for three days on he rose again
and showed the way to go

No longer may I wait to run
into my saviour's arms
and put to death the sin and shame
that come with satan's charms
Held not by death, nor sin or guilt
I see your nail-scarred palms
and see afresh the way ahead,
show me to the way to go.'

Friday, September 01, 2006

job interview? err... *ahem*

Thank you to all of you who faithfully prayed for me with my interview at Dolby this morning. The prayer was greatly appreciated! However, there was a teeny hitch...

The interview was yesterday.

Umm... yeah. But thankfully they were more than accomodating, did not brandish sharp spiky things and interrogate me as to where I was yesterday at 9am (in bed, if I remember correctly) but instead kindly offered me another interview next week on Tuesday the 5th.

So yes, all in all it's become a significantly more quiet morning, I'm now off to pack my bags for this weekend. Scotland calls to me, and I must answer!! I've the wedding of one of my Abernethy Gap Year pals to attend in Elgin, and I'm thoroughly looking forward to it! It'll be great to catch up with everybody, some of which I haven't seen in 3 years! Many pictures will be taken, and I'm kindly being given bed and board by my good friend Ross Yarrow in Edinburgh.

So, toodle-oo and pip-pip. I'll be back Sunday evening.

TheWeeScottie

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weird is just your own personal brand of normal