David Ralph

Giving It All

This has been a week where my head has been filled with church history – especially history of the great spiritual revivals the swept across England and North America in the 1700′s and 1800′s.  We have looked at the lives of the great men and women who brought about this revival.  Names like John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, John Newton, Thomas Cowper and Willima Wilberforce – just to name a few.  We have learned lots about these men and we have learned a lot about the conditions for revival.  It has so far been a great week.

But yesterday we stood on the spot where three men of faith were martyred for thier faith in the 1500′s.  All three died by being burned at the stake.  The description by our tour guide graphically described how it happened.  As I stood on that spot it really bothered me emotionally.  To think that just because they believed in Jesus and held to certain theological positions – they were burned alive.  I thought about how easy it is to be a follower of Jesus today.  There is little or no persecution – no threats of death or even harm.  But is it too easy to be a follower?  We don’t need to put it all on the line for our faith do we?  Has this made our faith stronger or weaker? 

These men were willing to give their all for the sake of their and I started to wonder about myself.  How much am I willing to sacrifice for Jesus – the one who sacrificed it all for me?  That is a tough question because I haven’t been tested for it  like these three men.  But would I be willing to sacrifice big time for the sake of following Jesus?  I think one of the big reasons for the revivals of the past – it was sacrificial living.  Maybe we have so much today that we are afraid of what we might have to give up.  I remember he words of Jim Elliot who died for his faith in the 1950′s when he said ”he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”.   Jesus said that whoever loses his life for his sake will find true life.  Maybe the days are coming when we are going to be asked to sacrifice just a little more – not our lives – just a little more – for Jesus sake.

A Day Full of Surprises

Yesterday I had the opportunity too visit to Anglican (Church of England) churches.  One was in the morning and the other in the evening.  When I athought about going to the Anglican church the immediate thoughts that came to my mind were irrelevent  and boring and traditional filled with liturgy and formality.  I could not have been more than wromg.  In the morning Sue and I attended a church that was planted by a former Guelph resident through Nicky Gumbel’s church Holy Trinity Brompton.  It was a great experience.  The music was just like Lakeside’s – done with the same degree of excellence.  There was a great use of relevant images and videos and the teaching was good as well.  We sort of felt like we were home only three thousand miles away.  Last evening (yes we went to church twice yesterday) we went to St. Andrews Church.  It was a traditional building but the service was less than traditonal.  There was a great worship in music time which reminded me of the Praise Venue at Lakeside and the teaching was very thought provoking on the whole idea of God’s creation from Genesis 1.  The thing that surprised me the most was the number of people who attended and how many of them were 35 and under.  The church was almost full.  One of the things that they have done in the church in England is to offer Sunday night services that are the same as the morning services but are available for all of those who can’t make a Sunday morning commitment because of family activities and commitments.  Is this a trend that will find its way to Canada?  If the goal is reaching people is this something that the Canadian church should consider?

Well it was a day full of surprises – good surprises.  God spoke to my heart.

Heroes of Faith

Today I had the opportunity to visit Westminster Abby – something I have wanted to do for a long time.  It is an incredible cathedral that was built hundreds of years ago and the architecture was spectacular.  But the most moving moments in the cathedral was when I got to stand on the graves of two of my heroes of faith - William Wilberforce and David Livingston.  Wilberforce is the main character in the movie Amazing Grace and his long list of accomplishments include the abolishing of slavery in England and the starting of the SPCA.  He was a man of incredible faith and lived that faith out is such practical ways.  Livingston was a missionary for many years in Africa and was also responsible for having an impact on the slave trade in Africa.  Again, a man whose faith was lived out in such tangible ways.  When it comes to these two heroes of faith they just didn’t have faith but they lived by faith and lived out their faith and it made an incredible impact on the world when they lived in it.  I had a lump in my throat when I stood on Wilberforce’s grave.  To think that one man of faith could be used by God to make such a difference in the times in which he lived.

This weekend before I head off to Oxford I am staying with a young pastor and his wife in London.  He actually grew up in Guelph and I also know his dad quite well.  Ten years ago both this pastor and his wife really didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus.  But through the Alpha Course which started in England (in fact I went to Holy Trinity Brompton today) this young couple’s lives where changed.  They met Jesus and they met each other.  This young pastor left the market place after a very successful but short career in marketing and through a series of Holy Spirit led events ended up being part of a team that planted a church that is thriving today.  He now looks forward to a brand new adventure of planting another church with a new team and I am confident because of his faith and his gifts that God is going to use him to do great things in this area.  I am taken by this couple’s love for God and enthusiasm for the building of his church her in London and their genuine love for people who are far from God.   I love meeting young leaders who have such a passion for Christ and for the church.  This couple exudes that.  I believe God is going to use them significantly in the future and as I watch from a distance – maybe these might become a couple of new heroes of faith.

Don’t Quit

I have been watching on TV an incredible tennis match that has broken all of the modern tennis records when it comes to the length of a match and the number of served aces.  This match has gone on for more than 10 hours and the match is tied in the fifth set at 59 games each.  That means that they have played 118 games in the tie breaking set.   It has just been called for the day not because one of the players has given up but because of darkness.  I watched the combatants leave the court and they are absolutely exhausted and yet neither of then really wanted to match to be postponed.  There was only one word that comes to mind when I think of this kind of incredible match – “perseverence”.    It is about hanging in when it would be easier to quit.  Hebrews 12:1 – “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that easily entangles and let us run the race with perseverence the race marked out for us.”

Maybe right now you are thinking about quitting something – a marriage – a friendship – a job – your recovery from a long term addiction.  It has been something that has created so much stress and anxiety and you are thinking about the relief that might come from quitting.   But don’t give up.  There might be temporary relief in quitting but there are often so many more gains when we persevere and hang in there.  So if you are thinking about quitting – let this little poem help you keep persevering…

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit –
Rest if you must, but don’t quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a fair and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, –
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.

– Author Unknown –

Are you worried about something

When the future is uncertain I tend to get a bit (maybe more than a bit) anxious.   Maybe you do too.  I have felt those subtle feelings of anxiety over the last few days.  I am not sure why.   Often it is associated when things are outside my control.  Maybe there are a few of those in my life.  Today, we went to a small church in a little town just north of where we are staying.   We toured this little church.  There were a few tombs of some famous people in English history.  There were hundreds of graves outside the church many of them hundreds of years old.  After touring the church as we were about to leave I came across a little writing that was for sale and as I read it it really spoke to me.  Partly words of encouragement and maybe some words of rebuke for my anxiety.  I thought I would share it with others who might feel anxious about the future like I do.  Here it is…

I said to the man that stood at the gate of a new year “give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”  He replied, “go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.  That shall be to you better than light and safer than any known way.”  So I went forth and finding the hand of God trod gladly into the night.  And He led me towards the hills and the breaking day in the lone East.  So heart be still.  What need our little life – our human life to know, if God hath comprehension?  In all the dizzy strife of things both high and low, God hideth His intention.  God knows, His will is best.  The stretch of years which wind ahead so dim to our imperfect vision, are clear to God.   Our fears are premature: in Him all time hath full provision.  Then rest; until God moves to lift the veil from  our impatient eyes, when, as the sweeter features of life’s stern face we hail, fair beyond all sunrise God’s thought around His creatures our mind shall fill.

Then a verse came to mind…”Be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”   Be calm my anxious spirit.