Reflecting out loud...

I am sitting at home waiting for the gas service check man, who is coming to do a service check (oddly enough!) on our boiler any time between 8 and 1 *yAwN!* It is at times such as these, when I have looming deadlines that are far from completion (a big project in for Thursday) and have specifically set a day aside to complete them, that I begin to procrastinate. It all starts in the mind when you wake up and the little electrodes that send signals to the "must do work" part of your brain see the horrendous volume of the said obstacle and shout "RUN AWAY!!" and veer off in a completely different direction.

It is in these beautiful places that you discover contemplations, those really exciting things that you have put on a shelf in your brain for later because you didn't have time etc. It is upon days like these that I turn to my blog, remembering something that could be said, if anyone would care to read it... And here lies today's contemplation:

The Lord has been challenging me (particularly after Keith's sermon on revival last night) about sharing my faith. I spent a couple of hours in the 24-7 prayer room the other week and I had a picture of a large tower block of flats. In each window was a different kind of person or family. It was quite specific, such as "single Mum with three year-old and five year-old", "mechanic and girlfriend" etc. There were satellite dishes on the side and mobile phone masts on the top of the flats simply labelled "potential". Somewhere off-centre to the block of flats was a window labelled "You". The phrase that came with it was "infiltrate your neighbourhood", then a picture of people doing that, and filling the Odeon - our new church.

I thought of the people in these flats and linked them to people you see around Cheltenham who are so weary of life because everything they try does not satisfy or deliver what they are looking for. I think of the Polish people at JT's work who all have three jobs each and simply spend their time moving from one to the next, working seven days a week. I was talking to JT the other day about it and couldn't help but wonder 'what on earth are they living for??' Poland must be pretty awful if that is a viable alternative. One poor lad works seven days a week because he is saving up for a heart operation for his Dad.

Here I am harbouring the most amazing gift of all - Jesus. Why am I afraid to tell people about Him? I wonder who would truly turn down an offer of * Free unconditional love * Eternal life *Someone who is always there for you no matter what you have done * Hope * Freedom ? How could you turn that down when it is offered on a plate for free?? All you have to do is say "yes".

Now I am no street preacher, but I thought of my own little street where there are just five blocks of flats (and then five more on the other side). I only know the names of the people who live in our building and even then I only stop and chat for a minute with them. Say there was an average of two people per flat, that makes 50 people in our half of the street! That is a lot of people on my doorstep who don't know the Lord, who don't have anything to live for and who are probably weary of life. I would be weary of life if I was paying £515 a month in rent for a one bedroom flat and working every spare minute to keep it (which we do) but without any hope or reason to carry on.

How long would it take to help someone? To chat to someone? To bake someone a cake when they may have had a difficult week? To give people the time of day? I don't really know what to do because this culture doesn't love it's neighbours but I am determined to learn. With the increase in technology and the decline of parishes, communities and face-toface interaction I think that we are losing the ability to love. All our 'community' is done online or at a distance via mobile phone. yet people are still on our doorstep and as I sit here contained within my "box" (flat) I am aware that Phil is probably sleeping upstairs after working his night shift in his second job and that Sean is probably sitting upstairs in his "box" on his own, waiting to go to work. Aline (who is a Christian) is possibly sitting in her "box" looking for a job. Who is showing God's love to them? Who does it boil down to? The person who knows God's love - me.

I want to learn how to do this, the only thing I have ever wanted to do religiously is love.