No .05 Caleb and the Spies

So, we pick up this story with Moses getting a message from God to send some spies out and check out the land that God is going to give them. Remember that bit, that’s the important bit, the promise was there at the start.
Moses selects the fellas and sends them out on the mission. In this blog I want to drop in some verses from the bible to tell the story:
“When they came to the Eshcol Valley, they cut off a branch with only one bunch of grapes on it. They carried it on a pole between two of them.” Numbers 13:23
This was some bunch of grapes, can you imagine popping down the supermarket and filling the boot up with that bad boy? You would need to get the neighbours to help you get it out the boot and into the house. I also think the bible has a funny way of wording things, these lads decided to name that area on their journey, they called it ‘the valley of the bunch of grapes,’ original lads!
Point is, this all looked really good, so that’s what they reported back to Moses.

“What are the voices around you that you chose to listen to?”

“We went to the land where you sent us. It really is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here’s some of its fruit. But the people who live there are strong, and the cities have walls and are very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there’.
Numbers 13:27-28
The land was amazing, almost too good to be true but most of the spies started to show their anxiety and pessimism. Caleb is the first voice we hear of optimism. This is important, it wasn’t just Caleb being unrealistic and foolhardy, remember the promise that Moses started off with? God told them, go and see the land I am giving you! This is yours!
“Caleb told the people to be quiet and listen to Moses. Caleb said, “Let’s go now and take possession of the land. We should be more than able to conquer it.” Number 13:30
However, even with Caleb calling out and encouraging the people to take God at his word and advance, all the others could see where mountains, problems and disappointment.
“But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us!” So they began to spread lies among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored is one that devours those who live there. All the people we saw there are very tall. We saw Nephilim there. (The descendants of Anak are Nephilim.) We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.” Numbers 13:31-33
Giants, failure, fear, anxiety, mountains, difficulty – this is impossible!
I love this stuff. So often I am sadly the bloke calling out the mountains and giants in the way. It is a real challenge to be like Caleb, the men who are willing to remember the promises of God, stand on them with conviction and take action. Decisive action, bold and full of faith in who God is and how reliable His word to us can be.

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

No .06 Samson

If there ever was an amazing action story in the bible is has to be that of Samson. You can have a look on YouTube of course and find some interesting films made about 50 years ago, but this is begging for a full Hollywood work up.
Samson’s parents had a visit from an angel and they knew that their boy child was to be set apart, dedicated to the service of God. This meant that Samson was living as a Nazarite with a particular set of skills, (sorry that should be code, I am mixing this with my favourite film!).
The code was simple and the benefit was massive. Samson must abstain from fermented drink, not touch any dead bodies and never let a razor cut his hair. The return for this code? A life of unique blessing and power from the Lord, well worth the effort!
The battles Samson got involved with are incredible, and a bit hard to fathom really. On one occasion after tying the tails together of 300 foxes he had caught, he secures a flaming torch to each set and lets them loose in the philistine’s fields to burn them all. Understandable upset they retaliate and burn two people to death, so then Samson gets very cross. Samson gets the jawbone of a donkey and sets about stabbing, slashing and clubbing about one thousand men to death.
There is a lot of stuff like this in the life of Samson, did I mention he found a dead lion? If you have been following this blog series you will understand.
The thing I want to point out in this short blog is simply about God’s grace being incredibly abundant in the Old Testament. Samson actually ends up losing the one thing that made him so incredibly distinct and focused in his life, the spirit of God.
Samson had let the Nazarite code go and the final straw was letting his deceptive wife know his secret, she cut his hair and boom, the Lord left him.
The sad bit is, and you can read it here in Judges 16:20 that ‘he did not know that the LORD had left him.’
“During that journey of wandering, prayer becomes stale and lifeless, the bible is like walking through treacle and going to church fells like just another thing to get done.”
I remember hearing Beechy (CVMs President!) speak about Samson, and I think he wrote this in 52 Men too. That for Samson the spirit of God was brooding over him and had taken such great power in his life, but Samson and his life choices were such that he just hadn’t noticed the spirit leave. I liked that.
Sometimes, we can actively walk in the opposite direction to the Holy Spirits leading in our lives. I have done it, been there and got the t shirt. Absolute conviction both in my spirit and in what I know of God form the bible however I wander off in the opposite direction. During that journey of wandering, prayer becomes stale and lifeless, the bible is like walking through treacle and going to church is just another thing to get done.
Have you been there? I have, a few times.
I think this is a place we can often find ourselves, I am not suggesting the Holy Spirit has packed up his bags in a tantrum and walked out the door of your life. However, I am suggesting that he retreats, steps back, let’s you wander and he did it with Samson.
Cool thing is, remember I talked about God’s grace being incredible in the Old Testament? Well for Samson he called out to God one last time, blinded and restrained by his enemies he called to God:
“Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Judges 16:28
Samson pushed the pillars in the building down with indescribable power killing even more of his enemies in his death than he had in his life. Not easy reading to be honest, but Samson discovered that God forgives, restores and hadn’t forgotten him. I found that encouraging anyway.

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

No .07 Gideon

When it comes to action and battles, the bible is seriously packed full of this stuff. Don’t shy away from reading these passages, it can be hard to read but it is in the bible and needs to be explored. Some of it is very graphic and will leave you questioning how God was in this stuff, but that’s ok! You’re not meant to understand and be able to fathom all of God’s moves, that won’t ever be the case.
Gideon was hiding away in a winepress threshing wheat, not because he had invented a new and more environmentally friendly way to do it, he was fearing for his life. Let me set the scene.
The action starts with the Israelites being disobedient again in their agreement and relationship with God. So, God sent oppression and strife their way from the neighbouring nations. The Midianites that attacked were particularly vicious and punished the Israelites big time. (Remember what I was saying about God doing stuff and allowing things in the Old Testament that are hard to look back on for us today?)
The Israelites were so impoverished they had lost land, cattle, homes the lot and had fled to the caves for safety. Gideon is doing all he can, but he is from the smallest clan and the least in the family (and oh, that’s a dangerous place to be when God is looking for action!)

“Broken heart, broken spirit and looking to hide away. Have you ever felt like that?”

God promises Gideon that this will be sorted. The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” Judges 6:16
God gives Gideon a plan and a promise, and puts some fire back in his heart again. Gideon trashes the old religious icons and symbols to the false gods the people had started to worship, a revolution was stirring!
Let me cut a long story short, Gideon managed to get 32,000 men together but the enemy had joined forces, there was a lot of enemy! The bible says that in their camp they were thick like locusts, more camels than the grains of sand on the shore! Oh dear!
But God spoke to Gideon and basically told him you he had too many men!
Well, lets just say at the end of this sifting process he is left with 300 fellas looking at him with spears, clubs, trumpets, empty jars and lit torches. Yeah, doesn’t sound like a win to me!
At night Gideon and his 300 men, circled as much of the camp as they could, with a mighty trumpet call they all shouted and held up their empty jars with torches in and smashed them.
A few things happened next. The enemy below assumed that with each light they could see was an army of men not just one bloke on his tod! They were literally surrounded and outnumbered. Then they decided that their newly formed alliance wasn’t actually that deep after all, and panic and chaos broke out, so they drew blades on each other and hacked each other to pieces. (God was sorting the chaos out!).
So, God took Gideon, with a broken heart and spirit, fearful and desperate and God gave them the most incredible victory. Sometimes, when I wrestle with the plan, when I can’t see all the details or even just get a glimpse at what on earth God is doing, I remember Gideon. You don’t always need to know, you need to trust that God is and will be working and sometimes that’s all we can do!

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

Have you ever noticed the flurry of books and self-help guides to transform you into ‘the man’ that will rise to the top in this world? There are loads. At the start of the year this stuff is all the more visible. How to earn more, how to excel in business, how to be a success in life….
I am not knocking them, I am sure some of these books offer really helpful advice about positive thinking and goals, assertiveness, targets and ambition, great stuff if you have the time and patience for this sort of thing. They also cover stuff, which I think is perhaps, more helpful, like how we handle failure, drive forward with energy and focus, all good things.
However, in preparation to write this blog for the start of the new year I did a quick Internet search on how to be a success, and I even spelt ‘success’ wrong, not a good start.
You might desire to be a successful sportsman, or excel in some kind of hobby. (I am trying to get my dart game strong enough to compete in the World Darts Championships, but that’s another article.) You might be so driven at work that you strive to be a success in the office, on the building site, in the boardroom, in the classroom.
Perhaps for you it is about being the best dad you can be and aspiring to be a success at home and for your family to see you as a winner. You might even have some very godly spiritual ambitions, to succeed in evangelising 1,000,000 people and writing a library’s worth of devotional books and sermons to wow any congregation.
Again, this is all inspiring stuff so what am I saying? This may seem a shock but I don’t believe you are being called primarily to be a success in any of the above ways as a Christian man.
For me there is a really subtle voice inside, and it focuses itself around who I am and how I find my identity and value. When I set my value and ‘success’ on being a success in the office for example, when it doesn’t happen and my ideas or vision fails who am I? When I set my value on being the next big Darts player to come out of Essex and I just can’t hit that treble twenty who am I? When I strive to be the next great evangelist but can’t seem to communicate the gospel in ways that people hear, who am I? When I shout at my kids and completely lose it because they just can’t stop arguing or look up from their tablets, my measure of success has been floored. Even as a husband when I don’t always operate with a selfless, unconditional love I have somehow been defeated again.
I think that we can also perpetuate this ‘how we measure success’ stuff in our churches too. I have been to so many churches where the messages to men is ‘let’s be better dads, let’s be better husbands and men in the community.’ I get that and agree, but hold on, I need to be honest that it feels like the bar at which point I can measure if I am successful or not in these endeavours, keeps moving up. How will I cross this line or tick off some of these goals and aspirations when the only messaging I hear is ‘be better.’
Here is my take on it.
Inspiring growth, change, targets and helping men measure success is essential, and I think we can do that by setting obtainable goals and celebrating the journey.
The journey, the target and focus for me is to pursue Christ Jesus with all I have and let that pursuit shape my life, choices, actions, reactions, the lot. As I seek to measure my life as a success or not, of course I will go to the normal labels, father, husband, son, boss etc, but there is more.
Obedience, faith, integrity, honesty, commitment, action, generosity, kindness, patience, gentleness….Christ-like living! As we set the measure to this stuff and celebrate the journey men are on in this respect, the funny thing is, the result will be that we will excel in our families, homes, communities, places of employment and on.
So, at the start of this year let me ask you some questions.
How are you going to measure success this year?
What do you define as the points of success in your life?
How can you be part of encouraging and growing the men around you on their journey to pursue heavens agenda when it comes to being successful?
Happy New Year!

Image Credit: Samuel Zeller

New Year. Another one. 2018. Already. Any hopes? Dreams? Challenges? Resolutions? Plans?
Of course we have no idea what lies ahead, we can make plans, we can prepare for stuff but no-one actually knows for sure whether any of it will actually happen ..
I am not sure how far ahead you all make plans, but one of the strong points in the Navy was planning (I know that will sound contradictory to any of you who served in the forces!). Now, I’m not talking about day to day planning really, more mid to long term planning. We always knew the ship’s outline programme for the next couple of years, and then increasing amounts of details down to the next day … and then there would be specific instructions detailing the actual exercise or visit or whatever it was. Generally the very long term plan stayed the same … ie when we would be deployed or on a certain exercise, but it was that actual day or the next that kept changing … the old saying ‘A plan is simply a basis for change’ springs to mind … we also used another saying as well … the 6 ‘P’s – Prior Planning Prevents ‘Pretty’ Poor Performance. There is nothing wrong with planning, but how tight do we hold onto our plans? How does it affect us when something changes and we have to alter or shelve our plans? How flexible are we?
I remember once we had been on an anti-submarine patrol and had been away from our base port for about 6 weeks, and every weekend the Captain had planned in a flight deck BBQ but we were either engaged on operations, or the helo was flying, weather was bad and the BBQ had been cancelled every weekend. The lads were getting a bit fed up of this change in plan every week! So on the final Saturday before we got back to our base port of Plymouth the Captain insisted that we have the BBQ whatever was going on. It was raining, it was blowing a gale and the ship was pitching and rolling. But would the Captain change his mind? No. We had the BBQ .. and it was .. er … interesting (had to lash the BBQ drums down to prevent them flying around, and the guys cooking were all in full foul weather clothing, and the lads basically ate in the hanger and just went straight back to their messes. It was a disaster). So sometimes we can stick to a plan when really we shouldn’t!
New Year is often when we start thinking about plans or resolutions, things that are going to happen or we are going to do (who has ever taken a gym membership out and not lasted beyond March???). The thing with being a Christian and what I would call ‘Gods plan’ is that it does not revolve around tomorrow … it is basically focussed on today! You can’t change what happened yesterday, and you don’t now what will happen tomorrow .. so it’s all about today .. there is a verse in the Bible that says this :
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. (Matthew 6 v 34 – the Message version).
I love that … I’m not saying that we shouldn’t think about stuff that we are planning, but how tight do we hold onto that plan? If we are journeying with God the second part of that quote is great … God will help you deal with the hard things that come up … the changes, the curved balls.
So, at the start of the New Year why not make a resolution to make plans, but hold them lightly … and when things happen that throws our plans out the window, allow God to help us through …
Until next time …. Cheers and blessings … and a very happy 2018!
Image Credit: Warren Tobias

No .08 The Nativity

So, we are well and truly on the run up to Christmas now, maybe you have got your tree all sorted or perhaps you just don’t do the decorations routine.
Maybe, when you started this series of blogs, the last thing you expected to see was ‘the nativity’ in this list of action moments. But this really is an incredible story, which I think our Christmas cards today do a terrible job of capturing!
The tension into which Jesus was born is incredible, with a horrific infant genocide just a moment away ordered by a mad king. The people of God had not really heard anything from God in, well, hundreds of years. There was so much waiting, expectation and hoping for the messiah, the saviour to come, but nothing, just silence.
But unbeknown to just about everyone a bloke entered a dark night in his own life. Joseph wrestling with the grief of a pregnant wife he hadn’t slept with, was silently working out his exit plan without bringing shame and death to Mary, the cheat.
She had spoken of a dream, a vision and a baby, the messiah! I think for a lot of men they would applaud her creativity and show her the door. Joseph was a decent bloke and God sent a messenger to reassure his heart and trust in his wife.
Together they set out to register themselves due to a census, talk about bad timing. They look for a place to rest but there is nothing. I know how frustrated I get when I have organised a trip and the accommodation has ended up being somewhat lacking. Imagine having your wife in labour and then your plans unravel!
They grab the only place they can, a cave-like hovel where animals feed. There Mary gives birth to a son. Now I have been at the births of all 3 of my children, it is a harrowing experience in lots of ways and this is in the safety and sanitised environments we are blessed with. Imagine how it was for Mary and Joseph.

“Sunken eyes that are dark with a mixture of fear, hope, exhaustion and expectation.”

Jesus is born and the parents must both be exhausted. Joseph might have started working out how to get home, sorting some food, blankets. I would have busied myself.
Just imagine for a moment the faces of Mary and Joseph.
Sunken eyes that are dark with a mixture of fear, hope, exhaustion and expectation. Hands caked dirty with mud and blood, skin cracked and cold. Hair matted and greased up from being on the road without decent facilities to wash and restore themselves. Faces cold to the night wind, confusion and anticipation etched on their young faces. Standing there holding this miracle child, looking at one another almost in disbelief at not only the human gift of life but the purpose and mission this child has been given. Pondering on the gifts given to their new baby of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Gold of great value, frankincense for a king, and myrrh commonly used for embalming the dead. What must they have been thinking?
The nativity for me needs some recapturing, away from the snowy Christmas cards of halo wearing individuals. Sheep smiling whilst considering the crib where Jesus was laid, shedding no tears just an angelic smile looking up.
This story was raw, real and some aspects to it are brutal and desperate. This is full of hope and a moment that the world groaned for. God with us, Immanuel. He has pitched his tent amongst us.
What an adventure, God’s son sent to us, not some statue to bow to or picture to send our prayers to. We got his son, in the flesh. He knows our pain, struggle and trial. He knows when you get up and when you rest. He knows the day you were born and the day your earth suit will give you up.
Wow.

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

To quote Noddy Holder ‘It’s Chriiiiiiiiiisssssstmaaaaassss’ (nearly).
What are your expectations of Christmas? We very often have this lovely ‘Christmas card’ image in our mind of snow, Christmas trees, angelic children singing carols, a beautiful lunch, perfect gifts etc etc … but for most of us the reality is a bit different.
The ship had deployed to the Arabian Gulf in Oct, so we were away for Christmas. Thankfully we were able to have a ‘stand down’ for the actual Christmas / New Year period and were alongside in Dubai for a week or so. Definitely no snow, but a good opportunity to at least make phone calls home etc … so not too bad at all. The expectations were high, but of course tinged with sadness as we were separated from our families.
Christmas day came, we had our ships Church service in the Dining Hall, and then each mess had their secret Santa, then it was lunch .. always served by the Officers of course, and they always came up with a great meal (I have to add they didn’t cook it, the chefs still did that bit thankfully). That was all fine, but then the afternoon got quieter and you started to think more about what was going on at home. At some stage of the day most of us took ourselves away somewhere on our own and opened presents from home .. that was always a bit difficult, as it really brought home the separation. This particular Christmas I had opened my presents from home before the mornings Church service … in amongst the stuff from home was a box of sweets and included was a kit-kat. Now, I don’t have a massive sweet tooth, but am partial to a kit-kat.
I had planned my day so that late afternoon, once it had cooled off a bit I was going to go out for my regular run. Can’t remember exactly how far I did, but probably 6 miles, and as I was running I kept thinking about that kit-kat … and was really looking forward to it (there had been no kitkats in the NAAFI for weeks)! So after a shower, I sat in my cabin and unwrapped it … only to find it was made of rubber and was a trick one provided by my loving wife … Expectations shattered!
One of the things about the Christmas story is that the whole thing was expected .. it should not have come as a surprise to anyone … Jesus had been spoken of (well not by name, but as the Messiah or son of God etc) who was going to come into the world (if you go to the traditional style carol service you will hear these passages read out). It was all there in the Jewish holy scripture (or the Old Testament as we know it now in the Bible). BUT they had kinda misinterpreted it and were expecting a king to come at the head of an army and throw out the Romans … that was what they expected. It didn’t happen like that, Jesus came as a baby to experience what it’s like to be a human .. so he could fully stand with us in all our experiences and emotions. The promised ‘saviour’ was not coming to free them us physical oppression but to bring hope for peace and freedom on a ‘spiritual’ level … hope for a future, an expectation that once put right with God,whatever our situation we would be at peace with our creator God, and spend eternity with him The expectation that death no longer held any power …
So whatever your expectations of Christmas are this year, I pray that you will not be let down and find a rubber kit-kat but experience the true peace that comes from an ongoing relationship with God through Jesus .. don’t leave him in the manger ….
Until next time …. Cheers and blessings …
Image Credit: Chris Sowder

No . 09 Daniel

OK, so perhaps if you are following this blog you will be working out that I like lions, yes, another blog about lions, I know. I promise this is the last lion blog I will write. (for now.)
Anyway, aside from liking lions I also like paintings (see I told you I’m not the typical macho man!) Some of the art by Briton Rivière (14 August 1840 – 20 April 1920) (Who ? – Ed) is interesting as he used to paint lions! (sorry my attempt at humour.)
In one of Britons’ paintings he painted Daniel and the lions den and his art captures some really interesting thoughts on the story. Just in case you don’t know the story, here it is:
Daniel lived in a time where the king had complete power. The king had ordered that Daniel be thrown into the lion’s den because Daniel was praying to his God and that was banned, he could only pray to and worship the king. They grabbed Daniel, chucked him in the lion’s den and the king sealed the stone over the entrance with his royal seal.

“In the painting it looks like there is an invisible wall or barrier stopping the lions from getting their tea!”

So that’s the basic story, there is loads missing of course, so check it out for yourself in the book of Daniel. But, back to the painting, Daniel is standing there looking up as the stone is being shut above him, and behind him the lions are prowling, stalking and snarling away. However it looks like there is an invisible wall or barrier stopping the lions from getting their tea. They are all locked outside this invisible arc that stands between them. The animals look confused, this is simple, there is our food! But they just can’t get to him, if you have ever seen an inquisitive cat doing this you will know what Briton has captured in the picture.
What’s all this about? Did he fall into a lion’s den when they were not hungry vicious lions? Did he get lucky? Er…no. When the King returned the next day after a terrible night with no sleep, he called to Daniel and found him to be alive and well.
Daniel answered the king: “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” Daniel 6:21-22
I love this story about Daniel, but can you just imagine the feeling as you slid down that trap door into what looks like certain, absolute death? Unimaginable. When Daniel is brought out of the den, the men who had stirred up the accusation against him were called. The king took them, their wives and kids and chucked them into the den! The bible says that before they even hit the floor the lions had crushed their bones.
So what? Well for me, the ‘so what’ is almost like God saying ‘this far and no further.’ I take a lot of comfort from that in my Christian life. Sometimes you look and think ‘why are things going on?’ or ‘how long will this continue.’ I think we can see God’s words too in this stuff, this far and no further.
As Christians we are never excluded from difficulty, trial and trouble. In fact, I would say that ever since Jesus called men and women to follow him life for those who respond to that call has involved difficulty, trial and persecution.
I do think however that God doesn’t do a runner when this stuff kicks off, he is with us, in it, through it and even drawing lines and stepping into the situation in some divine and incredible ways. I have experienced this stuff in my life, have you?

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

So here it is, the truth, I love action films. I have tried period dramas but they make me feel a bit nauseous and dizzy. I have endured suspense and physiological thrillers, but I find them dull, pointless and upsetting.
I am not a macho man, I am not shaving my face with a broken shard of glass and gelling my hair with cooking lard. I am just a normal guy who happens to love action films, that’s all.
So, in light of that, let’s get to the action, here is my 10-blog series on My Top Ten Action Moments From The Bible. (Many more didn’t make this list, and will be in the next top ten I do.)

No .10 Benaiah

Benaiah means ‘The Lord has built’ or ‘son of the Lord’ – cool name, and in actual fact a serious warrior in the Old Testament.
Benaiah was not messing about, he was a sub commander under King David but soon got himself noticed for being a stand out fighter and general tough bloke. Benaiah slays a couple of brothers who were renowned to be very tough guys, they were even called the lion like brothers of Moab! Benaiah then kills an actual lion in a pit on a snowy day, then an Egyptian giant, he does him in with his own spear! Let’s just say Benaiah took his place as the head body guard for King David, who himself was no push over, and if someone needed sorting out Benaiah was called. Get the picture?

“In a pit, fighting a lion, on a snowy day….why would you do that?”

“Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.” 2 Samuel 23:20
So, I don’t know about you but when I read that I was left with a question, a rather obvious one really. In a pit….WHY? Fighting a lion….WHY? On a snowy day….yeah, you guessed it…WHY?
Does any of that make much sense to you? It’s snowing, you have just defeated a couple of seriously tough fellas and your on your way home for a cuppa. It’s snowing, cold, slippery and you’ve come out in your summer sandals. You see a lion, now that is enough for most of us to call time out, and head in the opposite direction, fast! The lion goes into a pit, a PIT! Have you got the picture, slipping and tripping your way into the lions domain looking for a fight.
I can honestly say I would rather be somewhere else, completely. But for some reason Benaiah finds himself in a pit, on a snowy day fighting a lion. Did he wander the wrong way? Had he got lost and found himself in deep trouble or did he see that beast from afar and go after it?
Some theologians suggest that this lion had gone in to the pit for winter, out of the forest. The lion would wander out at certain times and attack and kill local people and this of course, was not going down well with the community. So Benaiah seems to be operating here on that theory, from a position of heroism, which I love because it’s a great adventure.
The rest is history, we don’t get the details other than the historical account that Benaiah came from that pit with a new fur coat. (Ok so I made that bit up but he did kill the lion.)
I am not a hero really, I like to think I am but the truth is I’m not. But, I have found myself before in situations where, a bit like Benaiah, there isn’t much more that can go wrong. He was in a bad place, bad weather and with bad company.
Sometimes I think we find ourselves in the post-modern equivalent of this pit, and we can look around and think ‘ok so this is not where I want to be at all!’
However, what I have also found to be true, in the pit, on a terrible day with the worst of company, God can use this stuff to refine us, shape us and equip us in ways and for things that we had never dreamed possible. There may also be a victory or two that we can emerge with as well.

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

Last time we thought about traditions this time I am going to think a bit about routines … stuff we just do because … well … because we do. We always do.
If you have been reading these blogs for a while you may remember that I like to run. I used to run a lot, now it’s kinda tailed off a bit, but I still get out there regularly, but not quite so much mileage.
When we were at sea it was a bit awkward to get the miles in as it was 10 laps of the upper-deck to the mile, at one point I was doing 10 miles a night (100 laps … ). Lets say it could become a bit tedious, especially as there was only two places to overtake slower runners … and there were all sorts of hazards: all sorts of fittings on the deck, guns and stuff in the way like the sea boat, refuelling points at head height and my personal favourite other sailors opening solid metal upper deck doors in your face ..
Anyway, my routine was to get the miles in at 1800 it seemed to be the best time when most of the runners were all about the same pace. Every day we were at sea, I would be up there. It was quite a good routine to be honest, there was basically nothing wrong with it. However because of the constant sharp turns to get round the deck there was a hidden problem with this routine. You were constantly turning the same way and it knackered your knees even more than just running on metal decks that were constantly moving! So although the routine itself was good, if you followed it constantly it became problematic. So, there was a variation to the routine … we simply ran the opposite way on alterative days. Clock wise / Anti-clockwise. It worked. A simple change to a set routine that prevented it causing grief – although of course this became part of the routine … but hey all analogies fall over at some point ..
Routine is generally a good thing I reckon. Last week we talked about traditions at Christmas .. ‘traditions’ are often wrapped up with ‘routine’ it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference. Routines can often carry us through a dark period, or when the going is tough, for me that period at sea between 4 – 7.30 pm when we had the evening meal was the worst part of the day. My routine of running helped me through that time, but without the tweak to my routine by alternating the direction it would have become harmful … One thing that can become routine at Christmas is the Office / Work ‘run ashore’ when everyone has too much beer and tries it on with the secretary or something. You going on the office run ashore this year? Have too much to drink last year? Nothing wrong with the routine of going … maybe give it a tweak this year and slip in the odd orange juice.
So as we draw even closer to Christmas not only think about traditions and how they can detract from the main message, but also how routines can put you into the habit (another good word!) of doing something for the sake of it which can become harmful, but with a small tweak can become beneficial and carry you through tough times (Spending time with God is a classic where the routine of 10 minutes with God can help you through when you don’t wanna do it, but when you spend the ten minutes gazing out of the window maybe you need to tweak what you are actually doing … but that’s for another blog).

Image Credit: Nikola Jelenkovic