The Gremlins......

Would value your prayers at the moment. John has spent a huge amount of time and effort recently, as well as extensive research, to try and upgrade a great deal of the sound system at church. His ethos has always been that it’s not only important that the gospel message is faithfully preached at church; it also needs to be faithfully heard, and that means a reliable sound system, the best that we can budget for.

He takes this role very seriously indeed.

However, in recent weeks, we have had a number of things go wrong, right in the middle of services, or just as a service is about to start - it feels like gremlins invading the system. We use a lot of batteries, for example, and put fresh ones in for each service – but recently, some of these have failed. One of our best radio mikes (I call it the Rice Krispie – it’s about a big as one, and is worn over the ear and comes around to the side of your mouth – lightweight, and superb) stopped working the night before I was due to use it for Ladies Day, and it might mean that it has to be shipped back to the States for repair. Not necessarily huge things in themselves, but there are a number of factors to consider.

Firstly, all these pieces of equipment have come from different places – so it’s not a manufacturing problem in one company.

For so many to malfunction in the same few weeks is hardly a coincidence.

John and I now feel that this falls under the realm of “enemy action”

He is concerned, that having overall responsibility for the system, the buck stops with him.

Lastly, and by no means least, God has blessed his company with a number of important contracts – but that does mean that he is seriously up to his eyes with work right now.

It is getting beyond a joke, and I also believe that satan is trying to interrupt the flow of worship by these problems.

Your prayers would be much appreciated – thank you

The Princess and the Pea....

At Thursday's Ladies Bible Study this morning, Ann led us in thinking about how the Holy Spirit works in our lives, especially at the point of conversion.

In my group, we talked about the fact that initially, we may get convicted about sin in a really big way, come to God, repent, ask forgiveness, and receive His salvation. The Holy Spirit continues to work in our life, but hopefully, as we mature in Him, there won't be as many huge sins to be dealt with.

But that doesn't mean that those "small" sins are insignificant. Sometimes, it only takes a very small thing to be an irritant.

Reminded me of a fairy story from my childood, by Hans Christian Anderson. It goes like this.....

There was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a real Princess. He travelled right around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real princesses he had great difficulty in discovering; there was always something which was not quite right about them. So at last he had come home again, and he was very sad because he wanted a real princess so badly.

One evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightninged and the rain poured down in torrents; indeed it was a fearful night.

In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself sent to open it.

It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess.

'Well we shall soon see if that is true,' thought the old Queen, but she said nothing. She went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. In the morning they asked her how she slept.

'Oh terribly bad!' said the princess. 'I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!'

They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin.

So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess, and the pea was put into the Museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it.

Pat's Thought for the Day;
Sometimes something as small as a pea-sized sin is easy to hide, and cover away inside ourselves. But if God take take a mustard-seed-sized faith, and use it to move a mountain, what can a pea-sized sin actually mean? If it irritates us, and disturbs a peaceful walk with God, we need to deal with it.

Spiritual Disciplines...

At Wednesday Teaching this week (on Wednesday, even), Mike was teaching us about Spiritual Disciplines. What struck me most was a) that I need to actually READ some of the books I inherited from my Dad – loads of the classics really, and b) I need to keep checking my attitude.

Well, a) started pretty well, as I located my copy of “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas A Kempis, and started re-reading it – great stuff. Felt good, and that maybe I’d earned a brownie point or two.

As for b), well, that was a different matter…

Take Friday, for instance.

The day went pretty well, really, and my Sis phoned me up to see if I wanted to join her and mum at a local garden centre for a cuppa (they have a nice café!) I realised that I only had some small change in my purse, so decided to go to Tesco’s to get some money from their hole-in-the wall. Due to problems with burst water mains near the supermarket entrance, the entire area was gridlocked, so that was out. By this time, I thought I just had enough time to try out the cash dispenser in Moulsham Street. Dashed there, only to find it “Out of Order”. Plan C was to dash over to Asda, and try their machine, and then go onto the Garden Centre. Arrived at Asda with about 5 minutes to get the cash, only to find that the machine I needed was “occupied”- that is, there was a woman in front of me, bending right over in some horribly tight jeans, fumbling inside this suitcase of a handbag for her cash machine card. All the while she was talking VERY loudly on her mobile, with loads of “I love you too, darling”, whilst her young daughter – I guess around 9 years old - stood there trying not to cringe. It was hard to know where not to look, as she was wearing the kind of underwear designed to show everything with hipster jeans. I kept looking pointedly at my watch, and eventually she decided to end the phone call, and gave up on the search for her card and walked off.

As I rushed back to the car, and went to drive off, another woman with a baby in a buggy blithely walked right in front of me, jabbering away on her mobile, with no thought of looking to check on traffic. Her very young daughter (about 4, I guess) had more road sense than she did.

Needless to say, I felt like “Harassed of Chelmsford” when I arrived at the Garden Centre, and definitely into Minus-Brownie-point territory

Pat’s Thought for the Day
Spirituality is what happens while life goes on around you. We have responsibilities to God to keep our spirits sweet. And the word “responsibility” is made up of two words; “Response” + “Ability”. And like any ability, we need to practise what kind of responses we should make, even (and maybe especially) when life seems set against us.

When God turns up....

An awesome Sunday morning service – still feeling a bit wobbly with it all.

John and I had a lovely slowish start to the morning, reflecting on all the joys of Ladies Day on Saturday, and made it to the 11;15 am service with time to chat beforehand and catch up with loads of people.

And then the service started, and it was as if you could feel the presence of God descending heavily, like the softest snow…..

As the worship rose, and the people praised, it was awesome to just stand (if you could) in that sense of God. And then Mike was almost overcome with it all, and said that he wished he could just lay hands on us all. Thanks to Tony – a phenomenal moment – who, with Simon, found a way to do just that. So as Mike stayed at the front with his arms outstretched, the entire church formed into a line to pass underneath his arms. The atmosphere was truly amazing. Folk have told me that at different points in the service they felt a jolt pass through them, some as they stood in the service, others as they passed by Mike.

Then someone brought the children in from Discoverers, and Mike prayed over them too. One of the staff said, “What on earth has been happening down here? As I walked through the door, it felt electric!”

Pat’s Thought for the Day:
It is so easy to be sceptical at what appears to be a hyped-up moment. But Pastor Mike doesn’t do hype – never has. Quite simply, God graced us with an astonishing demonstration of His presence, and I believe lives were changed. Let us pray that this will not be devalued, diminished or robbed in the lives of those who were touched.

What a day...

God turned up at Ladies Day…BIG TIME!

Awesome Day – almost 200 ladies present, the seminars were packed to the gills, and as for the worship………..talk about rockin’………

Fave moments……actually doing my 15 minute preach to everyone re; Love Languages. God was gracious, and helped me remember all the words I felt He wanted said, even though 30 seconds before I stood up my mind went a complete (and I do mean COMPLETE) blank….

...Maria leading us all in dance – felt brave enough to leave my seat and go dance in the aisles, then went up to the back of the church where there was a little space. Judy Duckers and I had a few mad moments playing air guitar…you may never see the like again, folks….

…Watching people be touched by God, and some very deep needs met….

…Being able to express and receive God’s love in many ways, even if Ann’s card right at the beginning of the day finished me off. Just as well I was in a side room, and no one actually saw me cry…

…some of the funniest drama I’ve seen for a while – Trinny and Susannah eat your heart out! Judy superb as the harassed Proverbs 31 woman, and a gloriously straight-faced Michelle as the Bible Teacher. And of all things for Helen to be asked to do - ironing - did anyone actually tell Jan and Carolyn how much she HATES IRONING????! – fantastic!….

…and some great Bible teaching all round.

Answered prayer, or what?

As I was so wired I only got 2 hours sleep last night, I think my bed is calling me, softly, and gently, to go to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppp…

Ladies Day...

This is the point at which I get nervous…

Speaking to around 180 ladies at tomorrow’s Ladies’ Day is something I have been praying over, anticipating, and both love and dread, all at the same time. My prayer has been that God would communicate clearly to each person present, that they are loved and special, in a way that is both straightforward to grasp, and individually meaningful.

I am as ready as I can be, and have prepared as much as I know how

Doesn’t stop me from being nervous, though.

And I think in a way I have learned over many years of speaking in public that without that “edge”, that I would really become arrogant, big-headed, and reliant on myself.

Whereas the truth is, if God doesn’t show up, I am in SOOOOOOOOOO much trouble…….

I've learned...

Came across this recently.......

I've learned - that you can do something in an instant, that will give you heartache for life.
I've learned - that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
I've learned - that you should always leave loved ones with loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.
I've learned - that you can keep going long after you can't.
I've learned - that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
I've learned - that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I've learned - that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades, and there had better be something else to take its place.
I've learned - that heroes are the people who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
I've learned - that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I've learned - that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I've learned - that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down
will be the ones to help you get back up.
I've learned - that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.
I've learned - that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.
I've learned - that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't
mean they don't love you with all they have.
I've learned - that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had
and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.
I've learned - that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while, and you must forgive them for that.
I've learned - that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I've learned - that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for who we become.
I've learned - that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other
And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.
I've learned - that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
I've learned - that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
I've learned - that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I've learned - that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you
I've learned - that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend or family cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
I've learned - that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

Petty Crime...

Had an interesting day….my handbag got stolen this morning.

I won’t go into too many details, but suffice it to say that I realised within an hour that I had not misplaced it, and that it really had been pinched. We went through all the procedures of stopping credit cards, Switch cards and mobile phone cut-offs, but I was quite concerned because there was a cheque in the handbag that I was due to pay into the bank during my lunch hour. It was a significant amount, and to have the bag stolen at such a point was awful.

I am so very thankful that God made sure that the perpetrator was not given enough time to do more damage. Within minutes of me notifying the police, a gentleman came to where I was, and said, “There isn’t anyone here called Kennett who’s had a bag stolen, is there?” He had unknowingly interrupted the thief as he rifled my bag, challenged him (thinking that he was urinating at the back of his premises, when he was actually trying to hide the fact of rifling through my bag), and the guy dropped the bag and legged it. He had taken the cash from my purse and my mobile phone…and that’s it. He had got as far as my credit cards when he was interrupted, so he put them back (into a different part of the bag, so I know they had been moved). The cheque was still there (now banked!!)

I am glad to say the police took it very seriously, and managed to get a number of witness statements from people who had spotted the guy, but not realised the significance of this until we started putting two and two together. It was also interesting watching a Scene of Crime Officer at work, gathering evidence! I am so grateful to God for family and friends who were there at every step of the way – you know who you are, and I am forever thankful.

It also brought home to me that there is no such thing as petty crime. To the person it happens to, any such invasion can be huge. Granted, the end result was fantastic, and miraculous. I certainly never expected to get the bag back, and to have done so, so quickly, and with the credit cards untouched is astonishing. The Investigating officers who interviewed me at lunchtime were “astonished”

But above all, I believe that there were whopping great warrior angels surrounding me, and him, fulfilling God’s promise to me - “Thus far and NO FURTHER”, and “No weapon formed against you shall prosper”

Pat’s Thought for the Day
From my mum; “Sometimes God lifts a veil, and allows us to see and understand just a little of how much He protects us from, every moment of every day".