To celebrate the family service theme, Garry wrote a new song entitled ‘A Fair Exchange is No Robbery’, which looks at the fact that God trades our despair, poverty and burnt-out dreams for His beauty, joy, endless hope and a new song:
‘A fair exchange is no robbery,
But what God trades so lavishly:
He gives beauty, joy – and a brand new song
An endless hope that easy lasts a whole life long.
This ain’t fair, anyone can see –
The things God’s getting back from me:
Burnt-out dreams, despair and poverty,
This can only be daylight robbery.
God gives us this and so much more,
Exchanging things you wouldn’t want to store.
He makes rich and you will see
The riches that He gives last eternally.
A fair exchange is no robbery,
But what God trades so lavishly:
He gives beauty, joy – and a brand new song,
You get an endless hope that easy lasts a whole life long.
You’get an endless hope that easy lasts a whole life long.
Come get an endless hope that easy lasts a whole life long.’ (Garry Turner)
J-P also shared how we need to swap our bad habits for good ones, remembering that to develop new habits takes time. He encouraged us to hold each other accountable and help each other to develop good habits, visualising the success that God wants us to have in this New Year. It’s important also for us to focus on what we want to do (and want God to do), rather than simply looking at the negatives (what we don’t want to do), so that we move towards new goals with confidence and hope.