On Christ, the solid rock, I stand

Its been a very long time since I have posted, mainly because I have been running a Corps, so writing sermons and as I am still a Cadet writing essays; but decided I would have a go at writing another post! 

I have been staying at The Salvation Army Training College this week. One of the highlights has been Spiritual Day. For anyone who has never been involved with one, it is like a day of Salvation Army meetings, but for Cadets and the Staff at the College. 

I love them, we usually have either the college Principles or someone else special come and lead the meetings such as our Territorial Leaders and I often find them refreshing and inspiring. This time we were taught by the TC on the topic of hope. It was all great stuff. 

One thing I love about spiritual days is the mix of music. We have songs led by a worship group and we also have songs accompanied by the brass band. Now I am happy with either, its a debate I quite happily sit upon the fence about because I love both! I love playing my own guitar and worshiping God in that way, but I also love the depth and passion of some of the songs found in the song book. 

This time we sang a song from the song book and then immediately afterwards sang the contemporary version of the song. I preferred the new song musically however the words of the older version really spoke to me. Here they are:

1.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness,
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

Chorus
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

2.
When darkness seems to veil his face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Chorus
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

3.
His oath, his covenant and blood,
Support me in the 'whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

Chorus
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

SASB 662 Edward Mote


This song really got to me. Initially I was not sure why. I stood there with tears welling up in my eyes and by the time I got to the second verse I could not hold them in anymore. It did not take me long to work out why God was speaking to me so strongly through this song.

I understand the power of the sea, I understand the power it has to sweep you from rocks, I understand how when stood by the sea you need to ensure your footing is secure or else you could easily be pulled out to sea. 

But why would God be speaking to me through this metaphor? 

Well if I am honest too often recently I have allowed myself to be swept away; by many different things. By my feelings, by the way others treat me, by the things others do or say to me or just generally by the world. Each of us are different, because when these things get to me I initially react by getting angry and then I get really low and fed up. To put my own words to the song:

My hope has not been built on
Jesus' blood and righteousness,
I tried to trust my own frame,
And not to lean on Jesus' name.

Because of this, darkness has not seemed to 'Veil His face', I have totally allowed darkness to Veil his face. And you know when that happens, I recon the enemy laughs, because he has achieved his aim. To come between a believer and Christ. 

It got to me because I realised this had happened, but it also helped me, because realising there is a problem is a massive step towards fixing the problem! Now I have realised I had allowed my hope to disappear I can re fix my hope upon Christ. 

I lost my hope and so lots of other things creeped in and took me further and further away from the hope I should have had in Christ. 

Romans 15:13 Tells us what happens when we allow ourselves to focus or hope.

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (NIV)

Along with the filling of hope we also receive the gifts of Joy and Peace, all things which previously due to my unstable footing I had lost. 

Now God has reminded me of this I plan to live constantly focusing on him and the hope he has given us, and it is a great hope because we already know that if we follow him, he has already won the battles we are trying to fight! 

So don't forget we should set ourself upon the solid rock, which is Christ. In doing so we will be able to take the things which the world and the enemy throws at us! Then when lifes storms come our sure footing will ensure we are not washed away, but remain firm safe in Christ's hope and strength. 

I'm back!

Hello everyone,

Well before I knew it I had not posted for 5 months! But what a hectic and crazy 5 months it has been! I will fill you in on whats been happening and hopefully you will forgive me for my lack of posts.

Life has been crazily busy, at the end of June I had my weekend assessment conference at William Booth College in London. It was a very busy weekend and had lots of different styles of interviews and tests. I passed and was recommended to start training for officership.

I left the Royal Navy after 15 years. This was quite sad, as the job had been my life for so many years. However I knew that it was the right time for me to leave so it was not too painful.

I then moved to London where my Fiancee was posted to take over a Salvation Army Corps in South East London. This has been really interesting as London is the exact opposite to my native Cornwall! But I am sure there will be plenty of time to reflect on these differences through this blog at a later date.

Then on the 2nd August I married Clare. It was a truly amazing day, where everything was perfect. It really was a great celebration with family and friends.

I could not resist adding a photo. I officially left the Navy the day before the wedding, so I thought I could still wear my uniform. Plus I also thought the start of my new life would be a great time to wear my uniform for the very last time and mark the end of my life as a sailor.

My wife and I then disappeared off on honeymoon for a week to Disneyland Paris, which was a great fun filled week.

I then had a few weeks to sort out our house together before I started at William Booth College where I started on the 8th of September as a member of the Messengers of Light session.

The Territorial Commander and my fellow Messengers at our welcome meeting.

Already I have found College a challenge. In fact the past few weeks since I started have been some of the toughest in my life. To the point where last week I could have almost given up. It was all very strange and I can't really explain why I was so fed up and ready to leave College. I think it was all just a massive change and the massive change of routine (remember how much I love routine!) just got to me and started to get me down.

However this week has been totally different and I have really tried to embrace college and all I can learn. This is one of the reasons I have re started this blog. We are being taught so much at College and it is not all black and white. It may surprise some people, but we are not actually taught what we should believe. We are taught, encouraged and guided to come to our own thoughts and conclusions.

Now I am no theologian (well I guess I am now as was pointed out to my class the other day!). I often struggle to formulate in my head exactly what I think and believe. I am an aircraft engineer remember and work in facts, voltages and radio waves.

So I plan to write out some of my thoughts and ideas as I go through College in an attempt to reflect, process and work things out. Hopefully some of these thoughts might be interesting or useful to people reading this blog. Some people might totally disagree and I don't mind that. In fact I encourage that if I say or write something you don't agree with then comment and let me know. It will all be useful and helpful in aiding my growing theology and personal development.

That is why I have started blogging again. I did toy with the idea of changing the blog name, or starting a new one. However I came to the conclusion that I have been a Sailor for so many years, it is not just as simple as turning the Sailor off and turning the Salvation Army Officer on. If only there was such a switch!

Many of you read with interest as I put into words my thoughts as a Sailor and a Salvationist. Hopefully now you will be just as interested in the thoughts (no matter how random and sometimes unformed) Of a sailor in transformation.

Steve

Living below the line

People who know me will tell you I always think about my stomach! But today I really am hungry! 

Today is the last day of the live below the line challenge. Where I have had to live off just £1 a day for food and drink. (Tap water is free thankfully)

The reason behind this is a vast amount of the worlds population have to live on less money than this every day.

So I have been taking part in this challenge trying to get sponsorship to help raise some money. The money raised will enable The Salvation Army to help these people.

It has been an interesting week. Apart from a tin of cheap meatballs (which probably didn't have much meat in them) I have not had any meat all week. 

I have had plenty of food to eat. Problem is it has all been rice, poridge or noodles.

All totally carb heavy and not a balanced diet in the slightest.

But food wise it has been ok. Drinking nothing but the odd black tea (really horrible) and tap water has been hard as I missed my coffee fix.

But this challenge has really opened my eyes and made me aware of something totally different.

I have had a cold this week. But no matter how much medicine I got and took it just did not get better. In the end I admitted defeat and went to the doctors and got put on anti biotics; because my cold was actually sinusitis.

Although I have spent only £5 on food this week I have probably spent about £25 on medicine.

It really made me think, how blessed I am to be able to get medicine and have the money to be able to look after myself.

How many people in the world have to make the choice between medicine and food? 

This challenge has opened my eyes and made me see that to many in the world things we take for granted are things they can't ever afford or get hold of.

But charities like The Salvation Army are there trying to help these people.

If you would like to sponsor me or find out more about the challenge you can visit my page:

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/stevecallister

I will leave you with two of my food disasters this week.

An exploding bowl of poridge and a sink full of rice. (Which I had to dig out, plate up and eat anyway!)

The Sailing Salvationist

Happy Birthday!

Hello. I am posting early this week as I am, off to visit a Salvation Army lifehouse tomorrow.

This Saturday will mark the year anniversary of my first post on this blog! I am not quite sure where the year has gone.

I am not sure what I thought or expected from this blog when I started it. I think really I wanted something to keep me thinking about spiritual things when I was away from home. I also wanted a way to keep friends and family at home updated about my adventures.

This blog has certainly recorded a transition in my life. When I started it I had no intention of leaving the Navy.

Now a year later my notice to leave the Navy has been put in and accepted and I am going through the Candidate process for Officership in The Salvation Army. Now that is a change!

It is amazing to look back over my thought processes and the journey I have been on over the past year through these blog posts. It truly is amazing the journey God has taken me on.

But now really my blog will have to change slightly. My time in the Navy is getting very sort indeed. So I can't really keep posting about my life as a Christian in the Forces; as soon I will no longer be in the Forces.

With that in mind over the next few months the overall theme of this blog will change from my life in the Navy to my life as a candidate; then hopefully as a cadet in training! Now there is an exciting thought!

One thing I have been amazed about over the past year is how many people read my blog. If I am honest I was not sure anyone would! But people certainly have. So here are some numbers for you.

In the past year this blog has been read 4022 times. With the average post being read by just under 100 people.

This blog has been read all around the world, which I think is amazing! It has been read by people in;

United Kingdom
United States
United Arab Emirates
Indonesia
Australia
Canada
Guernsey
Russia
Germany
Netherlands   No I think that is really cool. I hope that the people who have read this blog have enjoyed it; and pray that in some way it has helped them to become closer to Jesus.   So thank you to everyone who has read this blog.   On another note, I am doing the live below the line challenge next week. Where just like some of the poorest people in the word I have to live off £1 a day. (Although in reality many people live with a lot less money.)

This is all the food and drink I have to live off for a week. I think I am going to be very hungry!

If you would like to find out more about the challenge, or would like to sponsor me please visit the page below.

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/stevecallister

If everyone who reads this blog could donate just £1 then that would help me to reach my target of £200. All of the money will go to The Salvation Army helping them help some of the poorest people in the world.

Thanks for a great year!

The Sailing Salvationist

Beauty

Hello everyone. I hope you are all set to have a great Easter.

I had a few unexpected days off this week. One morning I went across to one of the Corps in my area which was having a prayer day.

It was a lovely sunny day, so after that I decided to make the most of it and have a nice walk along the north coast.

This is where I was walking. Amazing isn't it?

The north coast of Cornwall is beautiful. It is rugged and battered. The Atlantic Ocean pounds the rocks and cliffs. This creates some amazing scenery.

But the North Coast of Cornwall also lots of Minerals such copper and tin. So for hundreds of years man mined these cliffs. Some of the mines even streach miles out to sea.

Then problem is the mining seriously effected the land all around. The soil which was pulled up from under the ground was very acidic and killed off lots of the grass and plants. 

The mines also grew into massive complexes which covered much of the area.

As the Cornish mining industry declined many of these mines closed and left the landscape broken and scarred. 

But over the hundred of so years since these mines have closed nature has taken over. Plants which love acidic soil have grown. The weather has battered and softens the old mine ruins. 

Where before man had destroyed and made ugly God has transformed into beauty.

Now this week that made me think of Easter. 

God gave us his own Son Jesus. Who was brutally killed on the cross for our sins. He was literally killed by men for the sins of men.

Yet such a horrific event by man was transformed by God. This horrific death means that we can now be reunited with God. That through Jesus' death and resurrection, we can be forgiven for our sins and given eternal life.

Now I think that's amazing! God can turn something horrific into something beautiful. He did it with the Cornish Country side and he did it with Jesus' death on the cross. 

But if we ask him he can also do it with our lives. Now that's what I will be thinking about and asking him for this Easter this Easter.

The Sailing Salvationist

Refit

Hello again, another week and here is another post.

I spent last week visiting Clare, and it was great to spend some time together.

Last Saturday we went into Liverpool. I took Clare around to the back of the Albert Docks to look at the Mersey River.

Although I did have a motive! My ship is in refit in Birkenhead. I stood there around the back of Liverpool One and I could just see my ship. 

It's very hard to work out in this photo as I had to zoom in a long way, but trust me it's there! Just behind the yellow cranes.

It's hard to narrow down exactly how I felt standing there looking at my ship as it is being totally stripped down.

Some people will find this hard to understand, but when you spend so long on a ship it literally becomes part of you. 

For large periods of time the ship is everything, it's your home, work place, transport, bed and sometimes hated prison cell. You eat, sleep, work, play and bleed on the ship.

So I felt quite sad to see it in such a state. But this is not the end of the ships life. (Although I will never sail on her again).

She is being refitted. Stripped down and then totally rebuilt. She will come out of refit next year almost a new ship. 

She will be more comfortable, fitter for purpose and ready for any tasking she is ever given.

So apart from the fact I'm giving a bit too much away about how much I have become attached to a lump of metal, what's the point of this post?

Well it dawned on me this refit is much like the refit God has carried out in many of our lives.

God takes our batter old and worn life and transforms us into a new creation! 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

It's true. I know it's true; it's happened to me! 

It's not always easy to accept the refit God wants to make in out lives. But when we let him change and mould us we come out of Gods refit , fitter for purpose and ready for any tasking we are given.

So don't resist God, let him refit your life.

The Sailing Salvationist

Sacrifice

Hello, this post is slightly later than I planned to post, but its been a busy and hectic time. Today I lead a meeting and spoke on the theme of Sacrifice. So if you watch the video above from the film Saving Private Ryan and then you can have a read of my sermon below based on the clip.

The film Saving Private Ryan was released in 1998, at its time of release it was best known for its graphic depiction of the D Day landings in the 2nd world war.

That's certainly the reason I watched it initially all those years ago. Yet as I got a bit older and a bit less impressed with films being all about blood and gore I came to realise there is a much deeper story line. So for those who have not seen it here is a quick outline of the plot.

Just after the D-Day landings it is discovered that three siblings have all been killed, there is however one remaining brother still out fighting in Normandy. However due to the lack of communications at the time it is unsure if he is alive or not. It is decided that every attempt to get this man, Private Ryan back to his family should be made as a high priority.

So a team of soldiers is sent out into Normandy to try and reach him and bring him back to the safe area so he could return home.

This team is lead by an army Captain played by Tom Hanks. The team track down and find private Ryan in full health, however the town his unit is in is about to come under a major attack by the German army. Ryan is unwilling to leave his unit until this attack is over. So they all stay to defend the town from the attack.

Just at the end of the attack we see that the Captain played by Tom Hanks is mortally wounded and dies. Just before he dies he tells Ryan to "earn this" commissioning the young solider to earn the life that has just been given for him.

That is where our video started. As Private Ryan stared down at the man who had given his life so that he may be saved. The film then skips forward fifty years to show a now old Ryan visiting the grave of the Captain with his family.

For most of us it is hard to imagine how Ryan actually feels. Most of us can only imagine what it feels like to literally owe our lives to one man who gave up his own life so that we could continue to live.

It's clear that Ryan feels guilty, how come he was the one who was left to live. What did he do to deserve someone else dying for him? How come the captain died and has no family, when Ryan is able to stand there with his children and grand children?

It's also clear that Ryan feels he had a responsibility to live in a way that makes the captains sacrifice worthwhile. This guilty feeling must have weighed heavy on his heart and mind all of his adult life. as we can see by him begging his wife to tell him he has been a good man.

 

But what has all this got to do with us sitting here and now in an army meeting? Apart from perhaps letting you know I get a little bit too excited about war films?

Like Ryan we have had someone die for us. As we approach Easter we all know and realise Jesus did on the cross for our sins so we can be forgiven.

In our Bible reading earlier we read in verse 16 that

^" God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Literally by his sacrifice Jesus paved the way for us to have eternal life. His sacrifice on the cross means that we can be saved. It means that our sins can be forgiven no matter what we have done.

Now I think that's pretty amazing, that due to this sacrifice our sins can be forgiven even a someone who has done so many bad things like I have can have that all forgiven and still go to heaven.

This is further re enforced in verse 18

"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."

Through Jesus' sacrifice we can be re united with God and receive eternal life. This has massive effects and I told you earlier how accepting Jesus into my life has majorly changed it for the better.

But in the film we saw how much guilt Ryan felt that someone had died so that he might live. And the captain left Ryan with no doubts that he had died for him and expected him to earn his sacrifice.

So do we need to feel guilt because Jesus died on the cross for us?

I would say no, Jesus chose to die so that we might live. He decided that we were worth dying for. He decided that you and me and everyone else in the world was worth dying for.

We need feel no guilt for this sacrifice because it's all part of God's grace. God wants us all to be reunited. And since sin first entered the world God has wanted to join back with us in unity and love.

And God did this through his Son Jesus.

But really if we do believe that we have been saved by this sacrifice it should change how we feel. We need not feel guilt, and we have no need to earn Gods forgiveness. It has already been freely given.

But I do think that when we know we have received this forgiveness it massively changes out outlook on life and how we act. We read In Pauls letter to the Ephesians.

^{Eph 4:1} As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

^{Eph 4:2} Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

We have been given this free gift and as a result we should act accordingly. We should reflect Christ's sacrifice in the way we live our life. The way we treat others should imitate the massive sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

When we realize that we are saved through Jesus' sacrifice and that it’s a free gift and we begin to act like saved people then the changes we can see in our lives and our relationships can be amazing.

Often in the forces you have to make the decision who you would fight with and fight for. Some people you fight alongside of, you know you would give your life for. It may sound harsh to say, but there are others you would not run out into oncoming fire to protect.  

But Jesus didn’t decide who he was willing to die for and who he was not. He died for everyone in the world. None of us are perfect and each of us have sinned, yet Jesus died for every single one of us so that we could all be forgiven.

Hope that gives you something to think about this week.

The sailing Salvationist.