breaking the golden rule

Though I have done 30in30 many times before, I had always followed my golden (fear of man) rule - don't give tracts to people I will see again. This included people that caught the same train or bus, people I regularly go to to get food or coffee, colleagues, shop keepers of my favourite stores. Shameful I know.

Last year I recognised I had a problem but didn't really do anything about it. This year I was determined to make sure I did something about this bad habit.

I think it was about here (marked on the map) during my journey home from Perth Underground Train Station on Friday that I overcame my paralysing fear of man and broke my golden 30in30 rule. despite some moments of hesitation, I reached into my handbag to grab a tract and gave it to this man sitting next to me.

I gave it to him fully knowing I could see him again someday cos he caught the same train home as me. This was BIG for this wussy serial tract-and-runner.

Thoughts raced through my head such as 'what if I see him again - it'll be awkward!' 'he doesn't look like he'd be interested' 'can't I just give him the tract when he leaves?'... But I knew God wanted me to at least try talk to him so I gave him the tract saying 'this is for you, it's a gospel tract'.

He then looked at it for a while, turned it round and read the address of our church. 'Ullapool road... where is that? I think that may have been the church I got married in'

We talked more and it turns out it wasn't the same church, but he then went on to say 'the problem with this is that I am an engineer and I believe in logic, so I won't be able to believe in God'. We talked a bit more about that and then he had to get off the train because he had arrived at his stop. We parted with him saying 'we could talk about this for hours, but I need to get off here'. He handed the tract back to me and I told him it was OK and that he could keep it and read it properly later. He thanked me and popped it into his pocket

I kinda regretted not starting the conversation sooner cos I ran out of time, but at the same time, I was happy that I overcame my fear of man and that I didn't just wuss out with another tract-and-run. I think God was gracious enough to even give me a pleasant experience too.

Maybe someday I will see him on the train again and we can continue our conversation. Instead of dreading this day, I'm kinda looking forward to it!

He lives within my heart!

I really thank God that I have the opportunity to read more these days. With few commitments outside of work, and since trying to cut back on things like shopping and TV, I have found myself with a lot more spare time! It's amazing because since I have tried to cut back, I haven't really missed either that much. I'm honestly enjoying reading more and doing other more productive things.

I managed to finish another book - 'Man: The Dwelling Place of God' by AW Tozer. After reading the Pursuit of God, I was fond of Tozer, but now after reading MTDPOG - I am a complete Tozer fan! The book was a huge blessing to me - through it I really feel as though my understanding of a lot of the basic fundamentals of my faith as a Christian have been cemented and deepened to a whole new level. I understand more now why holiness is so important for prayer. I don't feel as petrified about standing up for God because in the end to be right with God is to be wrong with the world - and I'm cool with that (though time will be the ultimate test). The importance of repentance, true contrition for sins and a longing for holiness have been reinforced in my heart.

Tozer is great. But don't take my word for it, check him out yourself! To read MTDPOG online, click here. For any other Tozer fixes, this is a good website.

Next book on the list is 'Problems with Christian Discipleship' by J Oswald Sanders.

bible in a year (or 3)

I finally finished Jeremiah tonight. And wow, blogging this is quite convicting. I haven't blogged about my Bible in a year since February this year! As Ruey would say to Ynez 'Shame Shame!'. Shame Shame indeed.

I've been really slack with my Bible reading. I think I have had Jeremiah and Ezekiel as my last two books to read for a while now (maybe not quite as long as February, but still it's been pretty long). I think with Jeremiah, I didn't really know what was going on. I get that the people of Israel had rebelled, and I get that Jeremiah was saddened by this, and I get that despite all of that he kept trying to preach to them, but I just found that my mind kind of wandered off and never came back.

I guess the main lesson I got out of Jeremiah was that it's a serious thing to mess with God's people. God won't tolerate unfaithful shepherds and He will weed them out to ensure His sheep are protected.

Now all I have left is Ezekiel. I have read part of it already I think, but I have no idea where I read up to, so I think I might have to start from Chapter 1 again. Let's hope I'll stick it out to the end and that I won't take too long to do so!

pursuing God

I finished reading Pursuit of God by AW Tozer today. It was a really good read. I found that as I read it, I would tend to re-read paragraphs a few times over just because they contained so much depth and meaning. I also read the book with a highlighter in my hand because there were just so many points that spoke to my heart and convicted and challenged me.

Tozer just has the knack for making things understandable and clear. The book is about how Christians can pursue God, what usually stands in our way, what joy is experienced when one truly pursues God with all their heart, and the right attitude to have to pursuing God. Midway through reading this book, I read the back of the book and was so surprised to read the following:

During a train trip to Texas in the late 1940s, AW Tozer began to write The Pursuit of God. He wrote all night, the words coming to him as fast as he could put them down. When the train pulled into the station, the rough draft was finished.

WHAT???

I seriously can’t believe that. Yeah, it’s a short book (93 pages) but seriously, the draft was completed in a train trip??

Tozer is one talented writer.