Reflections on the Mega Machine

As the school holidays commenced recently, one of my churches ran a 3-day Children's Holiday Club.  The title was "Mega Makers", and the aim was to help children discover more about the greatness, depth and power of God's love.  The children took part in all sorts of fun activities during the 3 days, and by all accounts this year's Holiday Club was one of the best ever.  Each time I popped in during the 3 days everyone seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The church had been prepared and decorated in preparation for the children to arrive.  The largest item of "furniture" was the wonderful Mega Machine.  The Mega Machine is a very special creation which was designed to make things bigger.  The children found it very convincing, and loved it even when it went wrong and began squirting water at everyone!

There was a slot to input the object which needed to be made bigger.  The object then disappeared into the machine, and eventually came out of another slot greatly increased in size!

As I thought about this wonderful creation, an interesting question occurred to me: If I had access to a machine which could make things bigger, and I had the choice of making one thing bigger in my own life, what would it be?  The possibilities seem endless!  With the Commonwealth games currently in full swing, I suppose that the athletes taking part might opt to have their muscles, endurance or agility etc. made bigger.

Some people, when faced with this question, might elect to choose something which would be of direct personal benefit: a bigger car, house, bank balance, salary etc.  There is something about money and possessions which seems strangely attractive to many people, even though these things rarely provide the kind of lasting satisfaction or happiness which they might initially seem to promise.

Of course, an alternative response to the opportunity to use a Mega Machine could be rather more altruistic.  We could make bigger something which would benefit others rather than ourselves.  For example, one's motivation in making one's bank account bigger might be in order to be able to give more money away to charity, to improve the lives of others.  Or one could perhaps choose to increase the capacity of our love, concern, or compassion for others, or our work skills. For a Christian, the decision might be to deeper one's relationship with Jesus or one's understanding of the Bible, or to increase one's faith. 

I haven't yet finally decided on what I would want to increase, but I do find it a fascinating and challenging question.

Swimming between the flags

About three weeks ago I was in Scarborough, and took advantage of a sunny morning to take one of my favourite walks along Marine Drive.  Marine Drive was constructed at the end of the nineteenth century, and is the connecting road between Scarborough’s north and south bays.  On one side are the cliffs which lead up to the ancient castle; on the other is the North Sea.

Having reached the North Bay area, I looked out over the sands and noticed two flags which had been placed there by lifeguards.  Along with the two flags there was a notice which instructed users of the beach that they should only swim in that part of the sea situated between the two flags.  Scarborough has lovely beaches, which slope gradually down towards the sea, and I have always regarded them as ideal for bathing (if you can cope with the less than Mediterranean temperatures!)  My first reaction to the notice was to think that the lifeguards were being unnecessarily restrictive in seeking to limit swimming to such a relatively small part of the beach.

As I thought more about it, however, I acknowledged that their purpose in placing the restriction was in ensuring the safety and security of the users of the beach, and in particular the swimmers.  Of course, swimmers still had a choice.  They could choose to follow the instructions and know that they were in a safe area, with someone watching out for their welfare and security.  On the other hand, they could choose to disregard the instructions and accept the risk which comes with the choice (a number of people have drowned in the sea at Scarborough and other seaside resorts over the years).

As I pondered this situation, into my mind dropped the clear parallel with God’s instructions for living as we find them in the Bible.  God tells us the best way to live, yet he also gives human beings the gift of free will.  We can choose to either embrace God’s ways or reject them.  As we look around our society and the world today, we can see clearly some of the consequences of choosing to disregard God’s way.  Just listen to the news headlines!

Some have the opinion that the Bible is out of date and no longer relevant, and that we human beings can live our lives perfectly well without reference to God.  All one needs to do to recognise the fallacy of that belief is to imagine how life would be improved if, for example, human beings lived by the 10 Commandments; that in itself will tell us how much better it is to live in obedience to God.  It really is much safer to swim between the flags!

The Power of Presence

Sue and I have recently returned from a fortnight's holiday.  The first part, at least, didn't quite work out as planned.  After my Sunday evening service we headed up to Scarborough, intending to spend several days there.  On the Monday we heard news that our grandson, Ben, has been taken into hospital.  There is something about being relatively far away from events which makes such a situation feel even worse than it might otherwise have done.

As the day progressed Ben was very much in our thoughts and prayers, and we contacted friends and family to ask them to pray, too.  The news we received was not good, as the doctors seemed to think that the indications were that Ben had contracted meningitis, which of course is a very serious infection, and one which can prove fatal.

We know very well that prayer can be effective "from a distance".  Numerous people over the years have told me that they have experienced the blessings and strength which the prayers of others have brought, even though their praying friends were not physically present with them.  Sue and I knew that God could answer our prayers for Ben, even though we were a 3-hour car journey away from him as he lay in his hospital bed.  Yet despite this, I really felt that we needed to be with Ben and his family, and to pray over him personally.  So, late on the Monday night, we headed back to Leicester, and discovered that one of the benefits of driving at that time is the relatively quiet roads!

Early on the Tuesday morning we went into the Leicester Royal Infirmary and saw Ben and his mum, Megan.   Ben was clearly not himself, and was quite poorly, but it was lovely to be able to hold him in our arms and pray for God's blessing and healing power into our beautiful little grandson.

Ben slowly began to pick up, and we thank God that through a combination of prayer and antibiotics he is now well and back home with his family.  On reflection, it is quite possible that even if we had stayed in Scarborough and prayed from there, the outcome might have been just the same.  Yet at the same time I think that it was right on that occasion that we returned home.

There will no doubt be some situations where to be present with the person in need is just not possible.  We and Ben's mum and dad, Megan and Chris, are really grateful for the love and prayers which were received during Ben's illness from many people who were not in the hospital with Ben.  But there is undoubtedly something very powerful about actually being present at a time of need.  Often it's not the words we might say, but simply the act of showing our love and concern by being there - the Power of Presence.

One of the names given to Jesus is "Emmanuel" which means "God with us."  God is not a remote, far-away figure, but One whom through Jesus stepped into our world and became Present amongst us.  That's how much he loves us and it makes all the difference in the world.