MISSION - An experiment

Sean and I have been invited to join an experiment, initially for a period of three months. During that time we plan to meet weekly with the main objectives being mission-focussed through intentionally hearing from the Holy Spirit, paying attention to one another's hearts, and praying together.

We'll be using some of the ideas and methods we've been learning through CO2 to help us in practical ways, and we'll be comparing notes with other people taking part in the same experiment. It will be a huge help and encouragement to be on the same journey with people in other places.

In my own mind I'm quite clear that I don't want anything I do or think to detract from hearing and seeing what Yahshua will show me (and Sean) through the Spirit. The only thing I can be sure about is that the Lord knows better than I do. I'm expecting him to demonstrate while I watch, and then coach me while I try to follow him.

Today was our first meeting as part of the experiment. So far we have agreed that we feel an urgent need to be reaching people in the area around St Neots and Huntingdon and that we need to pray - together and separately. We have made a list of people we feel led to visit and have begun making contacts. And we have started communicating with our fellow experimenters.

We plan to get together weekly and I may be posting here again after some of those sessions.

Great Doddington - Knowledge and wisdom

Jim, Sean and I decided to visit the Great Doddington meeting this week, so Peter and Jody's living room was pretty full. It was a rich meeting, I haven't captured everything in this account.

We began by standing in a circle in prayer, then Peter read James 4. Peter went on to say that we need to seek the Lord's guidance in everything, not set our hearts on some goal and then drive for it. We have to remember who is in charge here! Jim mentioned that James is very direct. Sue felt that in some ways he is a little bit scary and not her favourite New Testament writer.

Rachael explained that the difference between knowledge and wisdom is critical. It's the difference between knowing that a tomato is a fruit and not putting it in a fruit salad. This made us laugh. Jim and Jody both talked about the fact that some things that are legal to do in man's eyes are not acceptable in the Lord's eyes. But we are not called to judge, we are called to love. I mentioned that although James seems hard, he writes that 'mercy triumphs over judgement' (2:13) We also considered how the church seems to thrive under persecution, for example in China, Korea, or North India.

Sean shared a prophecy, 'Jesus goes to church! Sometimes he stands just outside and says, "I'm here." He goes wherever people are hurting.' Glenn told us two stories, one about prayer for healing in the market place, and one about another healing experience.

Jody also prophesied, 'My word will not return to me empty. It's not just about social reforms, it's a matter of depending on the Lord.' Sean descibed a vision of a small girl. Jesus went to comfort her and told Sean to do the same. He doesn't believe he has seen this girl yet (other than in the vision). This prompted Glenn to share another story, this time of a small girl who woke in the middle of the night and left the house with her Bible. In the park she saw a man sleeping on a bench and called to him, 'Wakey-wakey, rise and shine.' The man awoke and told her that he'd been sleeping for a very long time, waiting for someone to wake him, and that he was the Angel of the North. The angel of Revival. Sean found some surprising parallels between Glenn's story and his own life.

Rachael also had a picture to share. The first part had been given to her three weeks ago and she had seen crowds of aggressive people in the streets rioting and shouting. Now tonight she has seen more. The people were running towards a second mob who were also running, there was going to be a clash. And then she saw that there was a huge mirror between the two, it was only one mob intent on fighting it's own reflection. They were being aggressive towards themselves! And she understood that Jesus removes the mirror and frees people from fighting against themselves.

Jim told us that we are drawing nearer to God and he is drawing nearer to us. We are approaching a meeting place with God, but we tend to run in fear. When we wake up to the truth we'll see that we have a most amazing future in him. And then I had a picture to share too. I saw an inky black night and knew that in the darkness nobody can work because nobody can see. But as the rising sun reached closer to the horizon a glow developed and got brighter and brighter as daylight came. And Father said, 'In you my Son will find his completeness - in him you will find yours.' I also saw a tomato with deep splits in its skin, but as I watched the splits narrowed, healed, and left the skin smooth and undamaged. And Father said, 'You can't do that - but I can.'

Colworth (CU) - A servant heart

Steph brought some thoughts based around Lent, traditionally a time of fasting and preparation for remembering Jesus' death and return to life.

The first thought she brought was about grace, something we receive freely and undeservedly, in his graciousness the Almighty doesn't expect us to earn the right to the good things we receive. We don't deserve life, but if we follow his Son we will certainly receive it. We are actually a royal priesthood, Christ is our King and also our Great High Priest and we are therefore of his royal and priestly family. Therefore we reign with him and through him, and we have access to the Almighty through grace.

Steph read the Anglican Confession, very familiar to some of us and perhaps less so to others.

Then we returned to thoughts about grace. The gospel (the good news) is bearing fruit in us. In a sense we are the fruit of the gospel. Psalm 139 shows that Yahweh knows everything about us. Grace comes to us free, without conditions, without strings.

We also though about the attitude of Christ and how we should have this same attitude in our own lives. He encourages us, we have peace, joy and love because of him. If we are like him we will always look to the interests of others. This is the nature of a servant. He humbled himself to come as a servant, in the same way we should always be ready to serve one another.

Eaton Ford (day) - Beauty in nature

We began this morning with a chat over coffee, then shared CO2 together. Paul and Jules are planning to do this together for a week or two or longer if they feel they should continue, so we were able to demonstrate it for Jules and he joined in too. It took quite a long time to work through this as there were four of us - Paul, Roger, Jules, and me.

As a result of the issues we'd just shared it seemed very natural to go into a time of prayer. We prayed for the things in our own lives that were causing concern, sadness, excitement, or tenderness; and we prayed for friends who are ill or grieving.

Paul spoke about the beauty of the natural world around us that reminds us daily of our Father's presence and power and love.

Roger read Psalm 46 and we talked about it for a while. And finally, James 2 was on my heart so I read through it without understanding its significance until I came to the end of verse 13, 'Mercy triumphs over judgement'. This almost jumped off the page and seemed especially relevant for one of the friends we had talked about and prayed for earlier.

Little Paxton - Ten pin bowling

Jim and Sean have been reading through Acts, Jim mentioned Acts 16 which had made quite an impression on him because it shows that Paul was very human and came to the end of his tether with the slave girl (verse 18).

But when they were whipped and thrown into prison, they didn't lose heart but were praying and singing in their cell. Not only that, when the order came for their release they even protested to the magistrates about their mistreatment. Paul could also be very bold!

Sean reminded us that on another occasion Paul actually ran away (Acts 14:5-7). here Paul shows a very human side, escaping when afraid.

After this, Sean and I spent some time explaining what we had seen and heard on Friday in Nottingham.

We also drove to town and booked the bowling alley for 6th April. This will be a great opportunity to encourage the kids from last years camp, get to know the parents better, and have some fun together. Perhaps we can also use it as an opportunity to announce the date for this years camp (the weekend of the 25th of July).

And finally Jim encouraged me to be bold in sharing the good news about Jesus. He suggests that I make a good start but don't really follow it through. I think he's right - perhaps there's room for improvement!

Colworth (CU) - The ladder

I had prepared a topic for today's meeting. We discussed Bernard of Clairvaux's 'Ladder of Love'. This extract from an earlier meeting in St Neots gives the background.

Bernard of Clairvaux's treatise 'On Loving God' describes a 'ladder' of love. The steps are first 'loving self for self's sake', then 'loving God for self's sake', thirdly 'loving God for God's sake', and finally 'loving self for God's sake'. The Bishop of Huntingdon, David Thomson, wrote about this recently in his blog. The original passage from Bernard of Clairvaux's work is in Chapter XV. 

We began by considering the idea of 'Loving self for self's sake' and agreed that this is always the starting point. Everyone has a built-in urge for self-preservation, we are often selfish (though not always) but even at our best we are likely to avoid danger whenever possible.

'Loving God for self's sake' takes this to a new level. Once we realise that Jesus is able to save us we can begin to love him for our own safety and preservation. Dud mentioned how the world can accuse believers of using their faith as a sort of crutch to lean on. And the world is right! We talked about how we can know that there is a creator. Something as amazing and beautiful as a bird may engender real wonder in our hearts. Whether we think the mechanism was evolution or a six day period of creation is neither here nor there, the important fact is that we are observing something amazing that cannot be merely accidental. Once we know he is real and is holy, self preservation may be enough to make us cling to him.

Thinking about 'Loving God for God's sake' brought us onto comfortable ground. This is no longer about having our needs met, it's now a matter of understanding what our Father is really like. We read 1 Corinthians 13 (especially verses 4 to 7) and Galatians 5:22-26. These passages tell us so much about the Lord's nature. They describe the One we love for his own sake.

Then we turned to the most difficult part, 'Loving self for God's sake'. If Bernard had lived in our day he might have called his study a 'four quadrant model'. Effectively he discovered this part by noticing the empty 'quadrant'.

Felix made the point that it's a matter of loving ourselves as God loves us. We can become the person he wants us to be, and then we are in a place where we can begin to give love to others. In other words, if Jesus loves me (and he does) who am I to say I cannot and do not love myself? Unless I can accept that I am loved how can I expect others to accept that they are loved?

As we were coming to the end of the meeting, Dud shared a profound and beautiful picture with us. He saw a person on the ladder, trying to climb to the higher levels. But they were wearing a harness with a loosely held rope attached to it. Right away, he could see that the harness will stop us from falling if we slip. And if we do manage to progress a little higher, the rope will prevent us from going back down again.

We prayed for one another, for continued progress on the ladder and a right mind to see ourselves as the Lord sees us.

Brampton - On a pathway

We began by discussing the Moggerhanger meeting last Sunday, what a great time that was! And we also spent a while considering the coming meeting at Nottingham on Friday 12th. It will be good to see like-minded people from other parts of the UK and hear their stories.

We talked about the X-treme Camp last summer and considered ways to reach out to the families. We would still like to arrange a bowling evening for the kids and their parents. We though a good time to do this would be the Easter school holidays.

The three of us ran through CO2 together, spending quite a long time on it as there was a lot to share. Sean described a picture in which Jesus was carrying him up a path, but every time they came to a crossroads Sean was anxious because he couldn't see which direction they had taken. But the important thing was to focus on Jesus, not on knowing the way.

Jim invited us to a Jeff Lucas event with the Saltmine Theatre Company in Kettering. Sounds great!

Colworth (CU) - Worship

No topic was planned for this week, so we met and began chatting about the past weekend and what we had been doing.

I explained about the Moggerhanger meeting and how without anyone leading us, the open meeting had been so wonderful, full of praise and singing and words from the Lord.

David had also been at a meeting, in his case a youth camp near Matlock in Derbyshire. He felt that the key to a great meeting is that everyone present should be focussed on Jesus.

Dud described a service at Canterbury Cathedral. He had expected that it might be a little impersonal but on the contrary found a marvellous welcome by the local people, a really good Bible message, and a group of African bishops in the congregation. It had been a really good service.

Andy told us how he, too, had felt especially welcomed at a church in Lincoln, not far from the cathedral.

We talked about worship, and agreed it's something that happens in our hearts and may result in praise, singing, meditation and so on. But those things are not worship in themselves. So it doesn't always make sense to talk about a worship song, a worship service, a time of worship, a place of worship, or a worship band; we can easily experience all those things without worshiping.

Eaton Ford (day) - Ship building

It was just Paul and me today as Roger and David were unable to come. We began by running through the Church of Two (CO2) exercise - it seemed particularly appropriate as there were only two of us!

I expressed the view that we really own nothing, it is all the Lord's. But we are joint heirs with the Son so we will inherit all these things that we don't own! I had a picture of a field surrounded by hedges and another picture of a housing estate. And Father said, 'Come out from your separated little areas and rejoice together in my presence.

Paul read Matthew 11:28, 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.' He said that sometimes we hold our burdens in and they eat away at us. Instead we need to hand these burdens over to Jesus and rest in him.

He won't give us things to do that we can't manage. He knows what we need, and we can do all things in him. He strengthens us. He gave us the word 'love' today. You have to love yourself so you can love others.

Then I had another picture, this time the plan of an old sailing ship, the sort of ship Columbus used to sail across the Atlantic. The Lord said, 'Can you build a ship? No! You haven't been trained to do it, you've never seen it done. But if you have the plan and follow it step by step you can! It's all about the next step. I have a plan for you, to do things you've never done before. But I'll help you and guide you. It's all about taking the next step.

Eaton Ford - Reaching out

We discussed the Moggerhanger meeting planned for 7th February and decided we should reserve Sunday 6th June for the next meeting. This might be a picnic or some other format.

Isaiah 4 was mentioned, what an amazing passage, especially verses 2,3,5 and 6!

Jim mentioned the need for outreach. He told us about Paul, a friend from River Church, who regularly spends time in Africa and is used to tackling issues like demon possession and evil spirits. In the same way in Britain we often need cleansing of things that cling to us from childhood. This is especially true when we've been told how bad, worthless, or useless we are. These things cause deep hurts and are not always easy to strip away.

Sean had been reading from James and had been impressed that poor people are poor to show how rich they are in spirit, while the rich are rich to show how poor they are in spirit.

I said that we need to reach out and share what we've been given so freely. I feel this very strongly now, more and more so as time goes by.

Colworth (CU) - comfort from love

Today, Steph led the meeting on the topic 'What is the Mind of Christ?' This was based in part on a recent e-bulletin from Christians at Work.

With the recent Haitian earthquake fresh in our minds we asked ourselves whether the Lord causes earthquakes or simply allows them. And in either case, is there some sense in which he is displaying his anger when events like this happen?

I explained that this is a view that I, personally, have never been able to accept. It seems very clear to me that we are living on a battlefield and we should expect bad things to happen from time to time. Yahshua is in us, but the enemy is against us, that much is clear. Earthquakes are a necessary part of the process that builds continents and mountains, without these processes the Earth would have been relatively featureless and an ocean world with perhaps no land at all.

Steph moved us on to consider the fragrant aroma mentioned by Brian Allenby in the e-bulletin...

God is utterly perfect, even handed and above all loving in His outlook upon the world. He wants the best for us. But He also wants us to live a life that is pleasing to Him, to be the fragrant aroma, that we so often read about in our Bibles.

We are to be that aroma. However, we can't simply imitate the Lord, if we are to be truly fragrant we must have him within us.

Another aspect Brian Allenby mentions is the need to be humble. He quotes Paul...

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:1-4)

The Lord does not call us to be strong on his behalf, he calls us in our weakness to allow him to be strong in us and through us.

Eaton Ford (day) - Kingdom loving

Today we discussed aspects of our lives and interests in connection with church life. Roger, for example, with his interest in model aircraft is in contact with a number of friends that he can share with and pray for. Paul is in touch with a variety of people, neighbours, ex-army mates and contacts through the Acorn group. We all agree that church is not just going to a place once a week but is about community in the place where we live.

Paul, Roger and I demonstrated Church of Two (CO2) for David. He could see the potential value right away and wanted to read more about it online.

David and Roger both have an interest in seeing living communities of faith growing in the Offords and we talked about this for a while. We also prayed together, partly for the hopes and needs that were expressed through CO2 and partly for the Offords. We know that Father has a plan for each of us and for our effectiveness in sharing Jesus' life with others. We can't do it ourselves - he must do it through us.

David referred to Bernard of Clairvaux's treatise 'On Loving God' in which he describes a 'ladder' of love. The steps are first 'loving self for self's sake', then 'loving God for self's sake', thirdly 'loving God for God's sake', and finally 'loving self for God's sake'. The Bishop of Huntingdon, David Thomson, wrote about this recently in his blog. The original passage from Bernard of Clairvaux's work is in Chapter XV.

We were all encouraged in sharing these things together.

Eaton Ford - seeing or experiencing?

Sean and I talked about our lives, the need for outreach, the value of CO2, and the potential usefulness of summarising what he's been showing us month by month.

Sean shared how he has been looking towards Jesus with an increasing desire to seek him and his kingdom, know his desire and leading, and find a way of doing it. He saw a picture in which the Spirit was moving and leaving a light trail of footprints. The footprints were not visible, they were spiritual footprints across the land. He said that he believes the Lord is trying to wake the United Kingdom up because it is sleeping and time is short.

We talked through a variety of topics and how they relate to the Lord and to church life. These included creation, evolution, fundamental particles, energy, and the sheer wonder of it all. How awesome is our Creator King! We also shared news about our families.

Jim arrived later after another meeting. We continued the conversation and considered the value of reading the Bible as well as some things concerning the work at Moggerhanger Park.

Jim shared a picture of a beautiful beach with only a couple of people on it, the sort of image you might see in a travel brochure. He said, 'But it's only a picture. Until you feel the sunshine on your skin and feel the sand between your toes you haven't really experienced it. Seeing it in a brochure or on the TV screen isn't the same - not even close! And it's the same with experiencing life in the Spirit.'

Colworth (CU) - Dysciples

Today, David brought some thoughts on 'Dysciples', he read from Krish Kandiah's book of the same name. David's chosen extract was about feeling dissatisfied and posed the question, 'Do we lose passion as we age?'

There is no way to tweak the truth, Jesus knows what he's getting but he chooses us anyway. He chose the twelve because he wanted to transform them (Matthew 4:12-22). We're impatient, we want everything now. But Jesus is patient. We feel dissatisfied because of our slow progress.

Jesus is our king and we need to obey him. If we're dissatisfied we need a change of perspective and behaviour (Ezekiel 14:6)

David reminded us that we need to be more on fire, more active. He told us that sometimes he feels guilty about this. I asked if we should be growing in the fruits of the Spirit, because it's really about character, not just what we do.

I had a vision of a map which I shared. I saw a map of a route, it was partly covered by a sheet of paper and I realised that more would be revealed as we needed it on our journey through life. Father has a good and safe plan for us and we need to follow it as he reveals it. David explained that we are like clay pots with treasure inside. We might not look like much, but the true value is in what is hidden!

Eaton Ford (day) - conversation and prayer

Only brief notes were made for this meeting. Roger, Paul, and I discussed some of the events and issues in our lives and in those of our friends. We worked through CO2 and then prayed for one another and for friends.

Eaton Ford - hearing the Lord?

Sean and I spent some time chatting before Jim arrived. We discussed reading Old and New Testaments and the value of some of the other material not included in the Bible, particularly the Apocrypha. We talked about visiting Israel, about having a relationship with the Lord, and about our experiences with CO2 and the listening component of that, VIRKLER. How can we tell when we are really hearing from the Lord? How do we distinguish between his thoughts and merely our own thoughts?

Sean shared that in reading through John recently he has been greatly blessed by so many gems of understanding coming out.

When Jim arrived, we were amused that he also raised many of the same thoughts and ideas. He mentioned that we truly need to hear from the Lord, and wondered how many people attend a church but don't really believe in a living way, and perhaps don't realise that there is more to it, that following Jesus changes the way we live every day.

We went through the CO2 exercise together, Jim in particular had had a really good week and mentioned many things under the 'happy' and 'excited' headings.

We prayed for one another, and we also prayed for the Moggerhanger meeting on 7th February.

Great Doddington - a broken world

We began by chatting about work, and how staff cuts have made life harder - even for those who have retained a job.

Barbara read from Isaiah 40:31 about how those who hope in the Lord will be renewed like eagles, soaring on wings. It seemed all the more significant because she had read it and then heard it again as the basis of a sermon on TV. Humble yourself and I will raise you up and honour you.

Jody mentioned Nehemiah. Although circumstances can bring us low, she still searches out the Lord. We do need to be humble. She also mentioned Haiti and the recent earthquake and the subject of prophecy came up. Why would the Lord not warn us about a disaster like that? Why does he allow us to be brought low? Some people have said that the earthquake was because of the presence of occult practices in Haiti.

I suggested that we live in a broken world and we must expect disasters to happen sometimes. When the tower in Siloam fell and killed people, it wasn't because they were more guilty than others (Luke 13:4). We must be prepared to follow Yahshua regardless of disasters. Rachael thought that trouble, if we face it in the right way, helps us grow to know him and understand him. And Peter pointed out that Jesus suffered and died in fulfillment of a great promise. We need to learn to see things through - come what may.

Glenn reminded us about the manna in the desert which was provision but also brought an important lesson (man does not live by bread alone). He told us the story of an island that escaped damage in the Tsunami. Pentecostals living there had prayed for safety for the people, not knowing what was coming. Everyone was saved while neighbouring islands had big death tolls.

Jody spoke about William Wiberforce and his portrayal in the film 'Amazing Grace'. He had some humbling experiences and difficulties in his life, but he honoured God. Rachael referred to Joel 2:28-29 where we read that the Lord will pour out his Spirit on everyone. What an amazing prophecy, he will pour himself into us! And Glenn reminded us that Jesus said, 'When you see these things happen, don't let your hearts be troubled.' (Matthew 24:6) Rachael said we should focus on him, listen to him and his voice.

I spoke in a tongue which Glenn interpreted. He saw a lion released from a heavily barred cage. The lion came bounding out, it had a big mane. He realised that Jesus has been released and his roar goes out to the nations and also reaches the church. 'Are you there? Are you listening? Are you coming?'

At this point Barbara saw the words 'Maple Leaf', and Jody described a picture of the aftermath of a forest fire. She saw a huge tree with charred debris all around it. She realised that charcoal can be used as fuel; even in the aftermath of disaster there will be something left in our hearts that is useful for our development. He can turn any disaster into something of value. Jesus is the light and the energy, he tells us not to focus on the problems. Instead we should focus on Jesus himself.

Rachael saw a bolt of lightning hitting a tree. And the Lord told her, 'This is my power, this is who I am. The lightning can destroy a tree but it can also light up the sky all around.

We spent a few minutes learning more about Church of Two (CO2) and testing it for ourselves.

Colworth (CU) - Gone back to fishing

I had volunteered to bring something for today's meeting and decided to use John 8 as I'd already made notes on it for the Scilla Blog. There, I've been sharing a thought from a chapter of John each day.

I explained how some verses of John 8 had jumped out at me as I read the chapter, and how a quick inspection had identified nine ways in which the Father does something for the Son. There is some repetition of these points, but there are nine unique thoughts. Looking at them further they fell naturally into three groups of three. These groups deal with the Father's position in relation to the Son, the communication between Father and Son, and the Father's approval of the Son. You can see the detail from the original blog post.

After I'd shared these details, Dud suggested reading the chapter through. This was an interesting exercise as it put things into context and made the Lord's interaction with the Jewish authorities seem very real. His words would have been rather arrogant if anyone else had spoken them. Nonetheless, coming from him it's just the plain truth!

We discussed the chapter. One of the thoughts we had was that many people at the time struggled to understand what Yahshua meant by some of the things he said. This was especially true before the Holy Spirit began to work in the believers from Pentecost onwards. (Acts 2:1-4)

Aby pointed out that after the crucifixion, Peter and the other disciples went back to fishing. John 21:1-3. Although the Lord had told them, 'I will make you fishers of men', they were at a loss as to what to do next. They so much needed encouragement at that time, and Yahshua appeared on the beach with some grilled fish and gave them just the challenges and encouragement that they needed.

We thought about Saul's conversion on the Damascus road (Acts 9:1-19). If Saul had been present he would have agreed with the Jewish authorities during the discussion in John 8. Later he was a prime persecutor of the church. But then everything changed and the renewed Paul was mightily used in spreading the early church through the Greek world.

We also had the thought that often we don't wait for the Lord to show us what to do. We should do! It's always better than heading off to do our own thing in our own way.

We finished with prayer before heading back to work.

Eaton Ford (day) - Purgatory?

Roger mentioned the 'Ship of Fools' website and recommended the 'Purgatory' discussion. I took a look at this after the meeting but didn't have time to explore it thoroughly. However, I was much more interested to learn that Roger and Ruth have been trying Church of Two (CO2) and glad that they seem to be enjoying it and finding it useful.

The three of us (Paul, Roger and I) ran through CO2 together. One of the things that was much on our minds, of course, was the recent earthquake in Haiti.

I agreed to send some CO2 literature to both Roger and Paul to help them understand the process better and also to pass on to others they may be interested in teaching it to.

We prayed for some of our friends and spent some time chatting, finishing off with a very fine chip shop meal.

Eaton Ford - Church, life, homelessness

Sean and I met at 20:00 as usual, Jim joined us later as he had another meeting first. We began by talking about church and whether it's better to have small groups networking with one another or larger groups. We couldn't see any reason to change what we're doing, but felt we might benefit from stronger (but informal) links between groups. We also discussed the Moggerhanger meeting on 7th February and Peter Farmer's meeting in Nottingham on 12th.

Next we considered life in Christ as a process. We begin to change long before we commit ourselves to follow him, and after that point we continue to grow in knowledge and grace. It's not true to think of people remaining static apart from a step change at the point when they first believe. So we felt we should get too hooked up on the idea of getting a person 'saved', but rather do our best to meet them where they are now.

We wondered about ways of helping the homeless. Jim told us that he is thinking and praying about doing something for homeless people next Christmas.

We went through CO2 together as a threesome (if that's not a contradiction in terms). Once again we found this to be a useful way of going a bit deeper with one another and it was good to hear how we feel the Lord is leading us individually.

A phrase that was mentioned was, 'Church is built on people who denied Jesus', Certainly true for Peter, and true for Paul as well - he persecuted Jesus' followers.

Jim prophesied, 'He'll give you extra strength, you'll be surprised by how much strength he will give you'. That's quite a promise!