Reflection

Ha, I'm so clever, I've managed to come up with a post title that includes both what I want to talk about and a picture I'd like to post. Marvellous.

I've been reflecting on something said at the UCCF Graduate Conference (a jolly good wheeze old boy). It was a quote from William Wilberforce:

I am not what I should be
I am not what I want to be
I am not what I will be
but I am not what I was
and by the grace of God I am what I am

I find that I get very focused on the first two ideas, conscious always of my sinfulness and allowing that to drive me away from God. However I have been reflecting on the other 3 ideas, and it has been an encouragement for me.

I am not what I will be. One day I will be presented without blemish, not through my own strength but the power of God working in me, it's a real encouragement when I am tempted to think that I'll never make it, and therefore might as well give up. But no, I am not what I will be, God has promised and he is faithful.

I am not what I was. When I continue to struggle with sin and I wonder initially whether I am really different to how I used to be it's hard for me to make sense of this. However, it makes much more sense when I consider what I was before I was a Christian. I was an enemy of God, an object of his wrath. Thank you Father for saving me.

By the grace of God I am what I am. I'm not the finished article, I won't be until the day I stand before him in heaven. I am mistaken though when I complain to God about who I am now, because it is only by his grace that I can stand at all.

And now, another kind of reflection.

I may be a geek, but I'm not a thief

I sometimes wonder what other people are thinking, and how they're reacting to the same events as me. Fireworks night provided me with an insight.

Now I'm the first to admit that I'm a geek, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. After watching the fireworks for about 5 minutes in Sefton Park I started to wonder how high the big rockets were in the air when they were exploding. Remembering that the speed of sound in air is approximately 340 metres per second, and guessing that I was about 100 m away from where they were being launched I came to a rough estimate that they were 200-250 metres in the air when they were exploding.

My mental thought process was then interrupted by one of the people behind me saying "wow, I wonder how much you could flog that lot for if you nicked them."

Honey I Shrunk Rich Williams

This is a story of a tragic accident involving a magnifying glass and a particle accelerator. Mr Williams was unfortunately reduced to half his original size. The only upside we've found so far is that he once again pay child fare on the bus.

We're currently working on a solution, probably involving a rack.