Pen-y-Fan: The Good News

We live not far from the Brecon Beacons (30 minutes drive north). They've been in the news lately with the inquest into the deaths of three soldiers. I'm on leave and took a moment to read Ceri Jackson's thoughtful and comprehensive post about it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-33506589 

Two years ago, Padi fell asleep in Christ. His own brush with Pen-y-Fan's severe weather has passed into family and church folklore, it was a significant theme of the funeral sermon (View on YouTube: http://youtu.be/ypIdA9b6WDk 

I shudder to think of how close to real harm we were. As can be seen from the photo, Padi was warmly wrapped and happy. As the weather came on and the situation became quite scary, I hurried Padi off to the side of the summit to relative shelter in order to change into his wellies (sorry but we were broke) and raincoat. It was as we hurried off the summit that Pads broke down in anguish and pain from the hail in his face and started reciting Psalm 46 (he'd already done that when challenged by the steep climb onto Corn Du). Our route down took us past the Tommy Jones memorial and, with the pelting rain at our backs, we descended to the safety of the Cwm and then on towards Login and somewhere to camp for the night (amongst a large group of curious and sympathetic Guides). The last 10 metres of the mountain retained a foot of snow for days after. Pen-y-Fan is really a tiny hillock in global terms, not even high enough to claim Munro status (as per the 3000 ft Scottish hill classification). But truly the weather varies in these hills and needless tragic loss of life is a regular occurrence. As hazardous as all this may have seemed, little did I know that the far more deadly threat was almost certainly already highly active within his body. This blog has not really charted the onset and diagnosis of Padi's illness, but it still amazes me that it was only a couple of months after the Pen-y-Fan adventure that he began to speak of double-vision and strange neck pains. I am so glad to have chosen him for the first of my 'quality time with dad' trips. I cannot pass the opportunity to point out that an even more deadly potential is virulently at work in each one of us as we skip or trip through the moments of our life, and that is the principle of sin. This curse has only one cure, the Gospel, the good news of God's Son coming to earth in a way that made it possible for him to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the World. The World, of which we are all part, despised, rejected and slew him so that our death is swallowed up in the victory of his death and resurrection. This is the mighty foundation that enables us to meet and rebut the sorest grief. 

But the tipping point for this post, apart from the other aspects mentioned already, was possibly the recent message by Jeff Gilbert (listen here: http://tabernaclecardiff.org/sermons/2015/07/12/god-in-his-church/ ). He spoke of the importance of knowing the truths we read in the Bible, but the vital importance of experiencing them too. In a familiar analogy, the Bible and its doctrines are like the map. But, according to the text, in Ephesians 3:19-21 we should know the unknowable. We must ascend, using the map, experiencing what the map has only been able to describe in two dimensions. Some religions claim that God is too high and holy for us sinners to really know. But it is one of the glories of Christianity that robustly proclaims that not only is knowing God possible, it is absolutely essential for time and eternity, for life and death. The Lord Jesus Christ died to secure this for us. Anything that stops short of securing intimacy with The Eternal Lord God Almighty Creator, Sustainer and Judge of heaven and earth is vanity, a mere playing at spirituality, however sincere, that is cut off from the Source of life and health and peace. The difference between mere religion and true religion is vibrantly depicted in the book More Than Notion, recently recommended again by Pastor Dewi. In a remarkable effort, Ally has read it into a microphone if you would like to hear it. The chapters can be taken one at a time from this link 

http://tabernaclecardiff.org/sermons/category/audio-books/more-than-notion/

Or you can download the entire thing in a single zip file from this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jq57ak5859hdkrr/MoreThanNotion.zip?dl=0

 Other posts about Pen-y-Fan: http://mrmrj.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Pen-y-fan

Ground anchor

Our 19th wedding anniversary has sped by. We had a lovely day. It started with a 'hit and run' visit to our chosen purveyor of memorials, Ash. We were delighted with their service. I wont forget seeing the list of suggestions for things to put on a memorial though - many were sublime. In the end we made the basic decisions so that a stone could be ordered and we could decide on an inscription later. One of the requirements for a grave stone, even one set on top of a thick concrete pathway, is to secure it by means of a 'ground anchor'. The stone has to be secure enough so that it could not be moved by 'two grown men'. Thus a large steel rod is needed to go down into the ground and up inside the stone. This sounds pretty impressive. After all, a memorial should stay put for many centuries, one might expect. Then I got to thinking about it and actually what have we got there...? A stone of a few kilos, certainly not tonnes. It's fixed to a line of concrete upon the surface of the planet. As you know, this thin surface crust is floating on a huge sea of floating magma on a planet spinning around a relatively tiny star. How permanent really is any thing planted on the face of the earth? We need an anchor that lodges somewhere out of reach of 'change and decay'.

We have an anchor that keeps the soul, steadfast and sure while the billows roll. Fastened to the Rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the Saviour's love.  Owens

As Alex pointed out at Friday Fellowship, all cultures have always believed in an afterlife, from the ancient Egyptians to even some modern atheists. One overwhelming message from this observation is that what we can see and feel is less permanent than what we cannot, i.e. the soul. And yet such scant attention is given to preparing the soul for this great transition of death. Interestingly, all cultures have also always believed in a judgement after death, the results of which, usually depending on how good you were, determine how you will spend eternity. With the clear testimony of revelation, we can, we must make sure of the outcome of this judgement before it happens. Make peace with your Maker now, while the offer stands: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).
In case you're wondering, we decided on the following inscription:

Er Cof Annwyl Am 

Padrig Luc Johnson 

19th December 1997 – 21st July 2013

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13

The first line is Welsh for 'In memory of beloved...'
In case you're also wondering, I'd taken the day off for our anniversary and so we went on from Ash memorials to have a great time at the superb Tuesday morning fellowship meeting. It was wonderful to go over some of the points that had come up in the Lord's Day services and enjoy fellowship with God's people. Then we went for a fine lunch with an excellent view at the New House Country hotel.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from all of us! Bo's school wanted the pupils to create an Easter Chick or Bunny from re-cycled materials but the gang thought we could do better than that. This rugged cross, the nails, the impression of a blood-stained body, the 'green hill' (as per the famous hymn, 'There is a green hill far away, outside the city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all'). As it's the holidays, we had family worship later than usual this morning and Pads was pretty bright when I went in to deal with the feed pump and give his meds so he descended to the kitchen to join us. Following Mr Higham's excellent sermon yesterday on Watching the Crucifixion we read the latter part of John 19 and thought for a bit about different opinions that people have of the cross. Everyone has an opinion, what's yours?
Where I was staying in Holland, near the Belgium border, shrines like the one in the picture below are everywhere...

4km west of the campsite is Mariadorp where there is a church with a massive neon cross that can be seen for many miles around at night especially. But it is not merely seeing a cross which we need, it is the Person who died upon it. We thought about the significance of the blood and water which flowed when Jesus was stuck with a soldier's spear. A couple of weeks ago I was at the Birmingham conference with Jonathan Stobbs preaching from Zechariah 13. He made the point that blood and water were key to the temple and tabernacle sacrificial systems of the Old Testament. The water for cleansing, the blood for atoning - both of these are richly supplied in the Saviour, whose conquered death through death, once for all. Bonar's hymn sums it up well...

No blood, no altar now, The sacrifice is o'er! No flame, no smoke ascends on high, The lamb is slain no more, But richer blood has flowed from nobler veins, To purge the soul from guilt, and cleanse the reddest stains. 

We thank Thee for the blood, The blood of Christ, Thy Son: The blood by which our peace is made, Our victory is won: Great victory o'er hell, and sin, and woe, That needs no second fight, and leaves no second foe. 

We thank Thee for the grace, Descending from above, That overflows our widest guilt, The'eternal Father's love. Love of the Father's everlasting Son, Love of the Holy Ghost, Jehovah, Three in One.

We thank Thee for the hope, So glad, and sure, and clear; It holds the drooping spirit up Till the long dawn appear; Fair hope! with what a sunshine does it cheer Our roughest path on earth, our dreariest desert here. 

We thank Thee for the crown Of glory and of life; 'Tis no poor with'ring wreath of earth, Man's prize in mortal strife; 'Tis incorruptible as is the throne, The kingdom of our God and His incarnate Son. 

It was great to be back together again, I'd returned from Holland on Thursday afternoon. It was the 'networked learning' conference, which doesnt sound very exciting but I had enough of an adventure with rambling, camping, cycling, and trains in Maastricht, AirBnB in Brussels, etc. etc. Photos are here.
Pads' visiting psychologist had been sharing with Ally some of the work he'd been doing. It was along the lines of trying to help Pads see that he feels better for having got up. He certainly does try but often it is only through terrific effort and will-power that he can overcome the desire to stay put in his room. When he really cant manage to come out he finds it hard to bear.

Blast from the past

I was working this morning next to Pads who was awake and bright fairly early. He spent a while just staring and thinking... about his calendar, about how he cant wink with his right eye... At about 10:30am he seemed to be struggling a bit and was getting annoyed that he could not see his DS well without squinting: there was a blockage over the centre of his right eye. He'd also just asked for some pain killers, for neck pain and some in his left temple. I called Ally and she contacted the medical team. They wanted to see him. It was a lovely day of weather and so the best thing was to wheel him over the park and into 'Day Beds'. The consultant recommended he visit the Eye Clinic and lined up a CT scan. Pads was very brave for the canulation and dye injection. We were keen to get Pads seen today was because all of this would have been less straightforward on the weekend, and we wanted to avert a wide-if-bleary-eyed dash to the hospital in the early hours, if something could be done to prevent it. These investigations took up most of the afternoon: but, by 4.30pm the scan images and report from the eye clinic confirmed that there was no sign that increased pressure was the cause of the earlier symptoms. Of course we were remembering back in pre-diagnosis days when symptoms would come and go, but we're in very different situation now, even if some of the territory feels the same.
Thankfully, Ally has been recovering from the shingles attack a little more as the week has progressed. I'm hoping today's events wont have set her back.

The picture was taken yesterday after we had a rail fitted to the stairs that morning which helps Pads to move more safely down them. An occupational therapist had visited and recommended a number of these adjustments since his left side is not so good. It was great that he got out last night to the Preaching Ralley. He was in very good form and very deliberate in thanking Mr Densham for his sermon, and it was excellent - a clear gospel message, calling sinners to repent and believe. I felt bad for him afterwards as he'd innocently asked Pads what he'd done to need a crutch - P informed him then about the tumour.

Believing

The word of last weekend was 'believe'. The WRU even had special t-shirts printed with the word. At the stadium, Only Men Aloud! were performing the 'Don't Stop Believin' song with massive pathos. We were told to believe, as if that meant something in itself. I'm not sure what it boils down to. 'Believe' is a powerful emotive word. But unless that believing is connected to something powerful or certain, what does it amount to? We could all believe that Wales were going to win, even in the final, but that possibility vanished on Saturday. Wales could have won for so many reasons but the most controversial was the 'red card' (sending off) handed down to the captain for a dangerous tackle. Gatland, the Welsh coach said, 'We just feel like the destiny of the result was taken out of our hands'. In as much as the Welsh team's destiny seemed to be in their own hands, 'events' took a strange turn, in spite of all the supporters' most earnest 'believing'.
After over three years of treatment, battling against cancer, it may seem strange to some that we are 'dali gredu' (Welsh for 'still believing'), still singing songs like, 'Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my father'.

At one level, when we believe in God, we're not doing anything remarkable. It is a mere working out of probabilities. The idea that the elegent complexity and order that we take for granted around and within us could come into being without a designer is a leap of faith bigger than any required to acknowledge that, just as a higher intelligence was required to make the computer this post was written on, a higher intelligence was and is at work around us.
People say, 'It's not fair, what's happened to you and Padi', but what has fair got to do with a universe that is supposed to have sprung out of nothing by chance and for no purpose? Chance knows nothing of right or wrong, fair or unfair. One loses and another wins, one dies and another lives. If you cherish the opinion that the universe is governed by 'chance', why does it matter at all what happens? And. Yet. It. Does.
Ally used to see a lot of this in her line of work. Celebrities that see their end coming have been known to make a great show of fighting cancer. You've got to keep on believing, they say, and Dr's are careful to avoid damaging any vestiges of hope. There may be some psychosomatic benefit to it... But death is inevitable, and the clinging to life in the face of terminally deteriorating health is 'a melancholy spectacle', as one preacher put it, especially if all you have to believe in is believing. All our believing could not prevent the French winning on Saturday. All our believing cannot prevent death. God can, but he has something better in store...

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Do you love God? That is the greatest command, and the one we least regard (cf. Matt 22:37). People say to us, 'I wish I could have faith', but they are not willing to go to the One who can give it to them. The 'believing' that saves is a gift from God. He is more willing to give it than you are to seek him for it: we see that in the giving of his own Son into the world, to be crucified, suffering the punishment our sins deserved so that people could be free to live with and for God, for time and eternity. This quality of believing is created by God the Holy Spirit in our souls. Ask Him for it. The 'immortal invisible, only wise God' (1 Tim1:17) is well worthy of your belief, your praise, your life, your all.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all. (Isaac Watts)

In fact, we believe that God is doing something 'so amazing, so divine' through our 'dark providence', and, although we do not see it clearly, who knows, part of that could be your own salvation.

At the Gospel Preaching Rally

Today Pads had a nice quiet day, did some calligraphy, in good spirits, made it to the Gospel Preaching Rally this evening, much to his fans' delight. In many ways he's as well now as he will be for some time, which is why we're encouraging visits now, before he re-enters treatment.

Now, in case you hadnt noticed, this blog is entitled 'Are you saved?' and, in his sermon, Jeremy Brookes did a great job of explaining how to be saved... here is a summary of what he said:
1. The only way to be saved is by Grace. God's riches at Christ's Expense. God's riches may be defined as, 'every single blessing in heavenly places: justification, sanctification, adoption (made sons and daughters of God!)
How to enter these blessings... Through some merit? No, despite the sheer lack of them! Not because of us but because of Him. Grace is God reaching out to the sinner when, left to himself the sinner would never reach out to Him. 1 Jn 4:19 - We love him, because he first loved us.
2. The only way to be saved is by Faith: Faith is forsaking all, I take him. Let go of every other hope, so as to take Jesus Christ as saviour and Lord. Or, if grace is 'God's riches at Christ's expense', then faith is a result of that grace working new abilities of laying hold on God. Just simple, but saving faith, latches on to the Almighty.
3. The only way to be saved is in Christ. Clearly there is no salvation without a saviour. The person and work of Jesus Christ, and only in Him: He recieves none who seek another way, but all who seek the way through Him. In Christ only... 'The Lord has run off with my sin and left me his own righteousness instead', said one preacher. Jesus was crucified at Calvary, the physical agony of it all, but the spiritual agony was far greater. Why did Jesus have to come as a baby? Why a carpenter, why so long until the cross? 33 years? Why not just appear as a grown man to pay the penalty for sins and rise from the dead? I needed him to live for me too. My rags were worn by Him on the cross, as if God saw me and meted out my punishment on Him! Jesus gives me his own spotless robe! No one else can do that for you. No one else lived the way he did, without sin, and no one has ever died the way he did (although there were crucifixions a plenty), bearing the weight of a sinner like me. No-one else was raised from the dead like Him. He is unique, the only saviour of sinners. The wonder of the gospel is that he saved me and he can save you - not Dawkins or Mohammed can offer this. Jesus is able and willing to save. How sad if he was willing but not able, or able but not willing! Through these words He is reaching out to you - meet God in time as your friend, it must only be by grace, through faith, in Christ. Knowing how is not enough. There are those in hell tonight who knew how to be saved. Gospels sermons came and went until one day no more came or went. 'My spirit shall not always strive with man' (Gen 6:3) . In hell they remember every sermon and outline of a sermon, every gospel text. And they wish, how they wish. But their time had come and now it's gone. You will either go out tonight one gospel sermon nearer to hell, saying 'I don't need your saviour'. Or you'll say, 'I can't go until I know he's goes with me'. The only way to be saved.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jer 29:13)