Fredrick and Reeba have today sent updated photos of Amshika, the little girl we support in Bangalore. Please continue to pray for her and her family.

Ballast forms the trackbed of a railway, used to bear the load from the railway ties to hold the track in place as the trains roll by. It is usually made of crushed stone at least 150 mm in thickness, these stones being irregularly cut so that they can properly interlock and grip the ties in order to fully secure them against movement. (Spherical stones cannot do this.)

One function of ballast (and the root of the word itself) is to provide stability. In mediaeval days, ballast was used to steady a ship to prevent it drifting; Heb 2:1 says, ‘we must pay the most careful attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.’ Ballast prevents drifting.

One of the functions of meeting together as Christians to prevent this drifting, this tendency to deviate from truth and from faith. Peter talks about us being ‘living stones’ which are being built into a spiritual house. (1 Pet 2:5) We are not meant to be loosely scattered stones; we are meant to be closely compacted together. We provide ballast for each other, a reminder that all we have heard about God is true. As we spur each other on to good deeds, as we talk about the things of God together, as we pray and study God’s word together, stability is brought into our lives.

Fellowship is a joy and a delight, but it’s also hard work. Stones of uneven edges and sizes rub against each other. We irritate each other. Our different personalities don’t always mesh well. We can be thoughtless and inconsiderate as well as caring and compassionate. But fellowship is essential if we’re going to grow spiritually, for God is building a spiritual house and these living stones have to be built together,.

There is no place for splendid isolation in the church, no place for lofty haughtiness or spiritual posturing. Our function is ballast: unglamorous, unfashionable crushed stones, knitted together to provide a highway for our King to travel on. It’s only as we live together in unity and harmony that others see God. That’s a new purpose to hold onto in the indignity of being compacted together on the track of life!

When I first became a Christian, a friend of my mother’s would greet me each Sunday at church with the words, ‘And what has God been saying to  you this week?’ She had an eager desire to know what God was doing in my life throughout the week and her question validated me in a way I did not fully appreciate at the time. She taught me that God’s word to us is personal and isn’t always mediated through other people.

The question made me pause and consider. At that time, I was reading the Bible for the very first time and it felt like there was some new truth pouring into my life every morning as I opened this precious book. Answering her question made me stop long enough to review those truths and reflect them back to someone else. I learnt it wasn’t enough to absorb truth into my own life; reflecting it back to another person gave it an added edge of reality to me. This principle of receiving and giving out, this cycle of getting-in-order-to-give, is a vital one to growth. Sometimes the very act of speaking to her reinforced the truth in my mind and made it more real.

I doubt this lady fully appreciated the quiet mentoring her question gave me, but from this, I learnt the value and importance not only of reading God’s word but of approaching it as a living word, expecting God to speak through it. The Bible is more than just a book. It is God speaking to us.

At times, those conversations were crystal clear and obvious, immediately applicable to my everyday life and situation (no one told me to split up with my boyfriend, but as I read ‘do not be yoked together with unbelievers’ (2 Cor 6:14), I knew I couldn’t continue in that relationship any longer.) At other times, the conversation felt like those in a family where one person is another room, yelling at you to do something you can’t do because you can’t hear what they’re saying! God can seem obscure at times. As I wrestled through genealogies with unfamiliar names and obscure Levitical laws, as I listened to the arguments in Job and gazed, bemused, at the apocalyptic language of Daniel and Revelation, I often wondered, ‘What is God saying to me?’ or ‘What’s the point of all this?’ But doggedness soon gave way to delight as I realised that all of God’s word is alive and applicable.

Now, more than thirty years later and entrusted with the precious job of teaching the Bible to others, I realise perhaps I ought to be asking YOU that pertinent question: ‘What has God been saying to you this week?’ What is God saying to you? Which parts of the Bible are you reading? Which parts seem obscure, irrelevant, incomprehensible?

Many people simply give up on reading the Bible or only rely on others to tell them what to read and what to think about what they have read. There’s nothing wrong with Bible reading notes or getting help in interpreting and understanding the Bible, but at some point, there has to be a connection between you, the reader, and God, as you open this wonderful book and prayerfully read.

Without a daily diet from God’s word, your faith will not grow and develop. Without the miracle words from God’s book, your life will be like flat lemonade, lacking any fizz. The shepherd can lead the sheep to green pastures, but the sheep have to eat the grass for themselves. Please, please, please open this book today and give God the opportunity to speak to YOU.

Every word you give me is a miracle word—
    how could I help but obey?
Break open your words, let the light shine out,
    let ordinary people see the meaning.
Mouth open and panting,
    I wanted your commands more than anything.
Turn my way, look kindly on me,
    as you always do to those who personally love you.
Steady my steps with your Word of promise
    so nothing malign gets the better of me.
Rescue me from the grip of bad men and women
    so I can live life your way.
Smile on me, your servant;
    teach me the right way to live.
I cry rivers of tears
    because nobody’s living by your book! (Ps 119:129-136, The Message)

We had another birthday to celebrate this evening.

In our ‘Little BIg Church’ service tonight, Stephen Turner spoke about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3). The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had previously asked his wise men to interpret a dream he had had (without telling them the dream!) and Daniel’s interpretation had made him realise ‘your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.‘ (Dan 2:47) Nonetheless, despite promoting Daniel and his friends, Nebuchadnezzar’s heart was not yet fully changed, for he then went on to make a gold idol and order everyone to bow down to worship it.

The three Jews refused to do this and were therefore threatened with being thrown into a fiery furnace, an ordeal that no one would relish.

Despite this threat, the faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was unwavering; they believed God could deliver them, but even if He did not, they were still resolute in not bowing down to a false god. Their faith was vindicated. The fire, made seven times hotter (so hot the soldiers in charge of them were killed), did not kill them and Nebuchadnezzar saw a fourth man in the fire walking with them.

This story not only highlights the need for us to stand up for our faith even in times of testing, nor the fact that our God is so powerful He can deliver us from all evil (the only thing the fire did was burn through the ropes around the three men; they themselves were not scorched or singed and didn’t even smell of smoke.) It shows us also that God knows our hearts and is able to discern what is invisible to men. Nebuchadnezzar often was dazzled by God’s power but his heart was not towards God for a long time. We need to be sure our hearts are open to God and that we stand firm, even in times of trial.

We celebrated the first of our August birthdays this morning, with Pat due to have a significant milestone birthday soon. We didn’t want her to miss out on our singing while she’s away!