A good friend of mine on Tuesday asked me a question and the question was, ‘what’s new for you this week?’ In my dejected state I replied and said ‘not much, not much at all’, but in fact that wasn’t the whole truth because in thinking about her question, a couple of things, some to my surprise are in fact new. There are four new things which have happened to me.
1. A new Love for fair trade 70% dark chocolate. If you knew me and my hatred for the taste of dark chocolate then this news would be a complete shock to you but yes I have moved past my original feelings for dark chocolate which in itself was a tremendous shock to me for I confidently asserted that I would never like such a chocolate for it was too bitter for my sweet tongue. But lo and behold I now enjoy it and deeply understand why people love dark chocolate. Also this perhaps could be related to people’s initial reaction to Jesus. They hate him and find him to be bitter, but when they encounter him like the apostle Paul, Jesus becomes the sweetest thing to them and he who once was bitter, yea a kill joy to their earthly pleasures is now the One with the fullness of life which their new hearts crave so violently.
2. Friends of the Earth. I was about on my way home from town when I was stopped by a lovely girl called Anna. She was a fundraiser and I had been a fundraiser and I love talking to fundraiser and when she stopped me, I gladly stopped and for the next 40-50 minutes we had a lovely conversation ranging from the activities of Friends of the earth, to her personal life and ultimately to the gospel. I shall briefly tell you of how we came to talk about the gospel but the whole conversation was very interesting and she said so herself. Focusing on the gospel, she told me that she had some pains in her body and seeing this as an opportunity I told her of my visit to bath where I saw Jesus Culture and witnessed many healings. She was surprised and asked me whether I grew up in a religious home, I replied positively and then outlined for her sufficient reasons to give the bible a hearing which then paved a way to telling her the gospel. She did raise one good objection which was, ‘the disciples could have stolen the body of Jesus because they felt so guilty for having deserted him’. I told her to think about it and if it was so, then the disciples would have been guilty of a greater crime because many more people, thousands lost their lives because they preached a false message. Now which is more evil? She agreed and I told her the good news of Christ Jesus and through my encounter by the grace of God, her opinions of Christians shot through the roof because her past experience was that Christians were passive so I told her that God is in the business of reconciling the world back to himself. Also she asserted that she would pick up her dusty bible and read it and I told her to read the sermon on the mount and Johns gospel. There are many more things I could write to encourage you but glory belongs to our God. Also I did sign up and now I give £10 a month beginning in December.
3. Harmonica. I purchased a simply harmonica book and DVD box set and it came with a good quality harmonica. I thought it wise to learn an instrument in my spare time and perhaps it may be a good skill to have since I have not many skills. Learning thus far as been good and very soothing to my soul, I play notes at random and love the sound of it. When I play I think of David, yea David the shepherded when he would play his instrument to King Soul and those evil spirits sent from God would depart from him. When I see those corrupt principles in me or when I’m hit with a dose of melancholy, I simply put my tongue to the tune and lo the spirit of gentleness sits with me and temptations fly from me as far as the east is from the west.
4. Leading bible study. At UWE Christian Union, I am currently a supportive bible study leader which means that whenever the existing leaders can’t make the study, I step in and have the privilege of leading souls to the wonders of the word of God. My aim in leading bible study is to hopefully excite in people a passion for Jesus and a deep love for him. I aim to excite all of their faculties, yea even their minds and emotions so that Jesus can be their all satisfying desire and joy amidst the fountains of worldly activities. But before I excite this in people it must first be excited in me because one thing you must know about me is that if I have no Joy in Jesus I would display an almost unmissable sadness that I cannot hide though I try and my conversations with you would be very brief. Also if I appear dejected it is mainly because I have no experiential peace with God at that moment although I am always at peace with God because of Christ death on the cross. And also if I appear to be enthusiastic it is because I feel the weight of his love upon my aching soul and thus I am with you. So how I am with God naturally expresses itself of how I will relate to you. Although it is to be said that it is more complex but nevertheless this is the crux of it. The bible study went well and I did excite in people a more deeper love for Christ and how awesome it is that Jesus is God, yea, the Word made Flesh.
So four new things have happened to me this week and perhaps there is more but I believe that this is sufficient for this post.
K.Oni
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