8th Nov day 25 busy day, where to start? Part 1

Friends of similar age will know the shock of looking in the bathroom mirror often in a morning. In my head I feel 44 but then that first glimpse of the day reminds me of reality. Well this morning I had a right wake up call. As I looked in the mirror there was a beetroot face with an outstanding Rudolf nose! As I said yesterday I was only in the sun for an hour but clearly I had forgotten an important lesson. The ozone layer here is much thinner than anywhere in Europe, so the sun, when it comes out, is blistering. Thank goodness I had invested in Clarins cover up make before I left and once my scaffolding was up I didn't look too scary.

I left at 9.30 as I was attempting to go to Hillsong Church on the outskirts of Sydney via public transport. Hillsongs are famous throughout the Western Christian world for their inspired and often very moving worship songs. All Saints where I now worship has a church family of probably 50-80 regularly. The first 2 Sunday's when in Canada there were hundreds in those churches. But Hillsong has thousands so I wanted to worship Jesus in that environment.

Thanks to a really helpful station attendant I got an all day travel pass from the supermarket opposite the station for just $10, which is amazing as the taxi would have been $200. The train was a double decker and very clean. You could move the seats to face which way you chose. I got to thinking why don't we have double decker trains, I realise lots of wires/cables would have to be lifted and possibly some bridges raised but as there isn't a premium on sky in the UK that might be a better option than building more tracks - am probably being too simplistic but honestly the trains are not much higher than ours? 

When I got off the train unfortunately I had just missed the hourly bus to take me to the church so I got a taxi. The driver was a Muslim and we spent a very interesting 30 mins talking about the differences in our faith. He was amazed I knew the story of Moses and Jonah and I was surprised how they revered Mary, albeit they have added all sorts of details about her that don't appear in the Bible.

However his first question to me was "where is your husband" so I just said he'd chosen someone else years ago and that God had completely recovered my life. But he wasn't happy to leave it there he said I must marry again and gave a host of reasons. When I said I hadn't met anyone he replied your family must find someone - now that's a scary thought as the first time Cheryl and I looked together at online dating in NZ in 2008 as a joke, she was trying to stitch me up with someone who resembled Rasputin!! On a more serious note he and I parted with the agreement I would read the Qaran when I got home and he would read the Bible, so I need to keep that promise as I pray for him.

As I entered the auditorium with thousands of people worshipping I felt my spirit lift, it was joyful to be there and to see this collection of God's family. The music and singing were inspired. The preacher was a larger than life black guy called John Gray who is the Pastor of a church in Houston. Boy could he sing and dance as well as preach. He did brillIiant worship words and a dance to the tune of Michael Jackson's Thriller, it was fantastic, he sang acapello initially and gradually the musicians joined in.

But it was his message that will stay with me as he spoke on the power of the words of Jesus from the account in John 11 where Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead. He started by asking us how would we praise God if we knew this was the last time before He called us home? Now that's a challenging question about the importance of our individual relationship to our Father.

He quoted from Genesis 1 vs 3 when God spoke and Creation began, Hebrews 11 vs 3 the worlds were framed by God's word and Hebrews 12 vs 2 that He is the Authour of our faith and then he read Jonn 11. Words matter to God, they have a creative power that we can retain images in our minds from spoken words. These can be positive or negative. Words create relationships but they can be used to draw people to us or push them away. His talk was called ITS NOT OVER.

Jesus is about a day's journey from Bethany when word comes that Lazarus is sick and He is asked to go to him, but He refuses and says "this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God". He leaves it another 2 days before setting off. The speaker explained well the confusion all the people involved must have felt1) those who asked Jesus to go with them to see his friend 2) Lazarus himself 3) Martha 4) Mary. But he stressed the point that the words Jesus spoke went straight to the tomb before Lazarus had actually died and so would have to come true. Nowhere in John 11 does Jesus say that Lazarus wouldn't die He says about the outcome not what happened before He got to Bethany, I hadn't noticed that before. 

The speaker encouraged us to think of words God has spoken to us and to hang onto them no matter what the corcumstances. He gave a brilliant and very funny account of how each of the 4 people in this account felt but made the serious point of their relationship with God. It was only when finally Mary fell at Jesus feet in worship that the miracle happened and Lazarus was called from the tomb alive after being dead 4 days. That's the power of Jesus words spoken days earlier, His words transcend time and space.

So the challenge to us is to worship in the in-between times when the circumstances prevent us seeing the eventual outcome because He is faithful to His word - ITS NOT OVER