Jonah (Again!)

Hi there,

Sorry this post is a few days late. Today I went to youth councils and gave my testimony about how God has called me to step out.

I know the other week I posted my testimony, and I don't want to repeat the same kind of posts all the time but I think this is worth sharing with everyone.

Hope it challenges you all :-)

The Sailing Salvationist.

 In the Old Testament we are told how God called Jonah to step out and follow him. Yet Jonah turned his back on this calling. He decided to run away from God. To head to sea and try and escape Gods reach.

Most of us know this story well. Jonahs plan to run from God's calling did not work out too well for him.

I can really relate to Jonah. I spent many years running from God. Ignoring his call in many different areas in my life.

Like Jonah my plan to run away from God and just hope he would forget me did not work out well.

I grew up in The Salvation Army, yet as soon as my parents let me; at the age of about 14 I left.

I didn't think I needed to stick to any kind of rules, or be told what to do by people who went to Church.

As soon as I left School At 16 I joined the Royal Navy and quickly fell into bad habits. Smoking, drinking and girls were the main things that interested me. And I spent almost all my time not at work perusing them.

I often felt God was calling me back but I just did not want to be told what to do. Just Like Jonah I wanted to go my own way.

Although I did not end up in the belly of a big fish like Jonah I did end up in a really dark and hard place. This made me start to doubt there even was a God.

I often asked myself "If God did exist why did everything seem to go wrong in my life?"

I went on a course in Portsmouth and when there I got into contact with a group of guys called the Naval Christian Fellowship, and I started to hang out with them a lot.

I went with them to Momentum in 2010 and one evening decided now was the time to make a decision. I could not be a Christian half heartedly anymore, I either fully gave my life to Christ or I stopped playing at being a Christian. So I went to the front and asked Christ to forgive my sins and fill me with the Holy Spirit to empower me to change my life in the ways that I needed to.

I began to realise all the things which had gone wrong in my life were not because of God, they were because I had ignored him and tried living how I wanted to.

I  continued to hang out with the NCF guys and to go to church with them, but I still did not feel at home in the churches we went to. When in Feb 2011 I got drafted to RNAS Culdrose I returned to Falmouth Corps.

I found that I fitted right back in and felt I was back at home and where God wanted me to be.

I became an Adherent member early in 2011, I wanted to be a Soldier, however I felt that my life in the RN was not compatible with Salvation Army Soldiership.

Again like Jonah I was not committing fully to Gods plan and continued to run from him.

Yet as the year went on I spent a lot of time in prayer and thought. I came to the decision that there was nothing stopping me becoming a Soldier in the SA except myself.

And in January 2012 I became a Soldier in The Salvation Army.

But I knew being a Soldier in the Army was not all God wanted from me, as much as I felt called to be a Soldier I felt called to officership.

But again I still acted like Jonah, I put it off and thought to myself "I can finish my time in the Navy and then become an officer."

The more I kept on making excuses though the more I felt God calling me to Officership.

Finally I knew I could not keep on running from God and his plan for my life. I had to step out and live fully for him.

 So in the past year I have applied to leave the Royal Navy and started the process to try to become a Salvation Army Officer.

This has been a massive leap of faith, leaving a job I love and one which I thought I would do until I retired. Many people, especially friends at work think that I am crazy.

There have also been many difficulties in the candidate process. I have faced lots of opposition from the Navy. And the process certainly has not been helped by the fact I have had to do a large part of the part of it when at sea in the Middle East.

None of it has been easy, and there have been some very stressful times, but I have found that every time there has been an obstacle God has smashed it down. In reality I did not need to worry at all.

I have learned God has everything in hand, and when you are truly following his plan, you just need to trust him and he will make it happen.

Not everyone is called to Officership, but God does have a plan for every single person in this room today.

It might be Officership, it might be Soldiership, he might be calling you to live for him right where you are at work, college or school.

And really we all have a simple choice, we can run and ignore God, or we can step out, trust him and follow what we think is his plan for our lives.

Like Jonah I finally decided to follow Gods plan for my life. It took nearly 30 years of running before I did this. But I can honestly say that since I have God has certainly made my life exciting and interesting!

I ask you today to seriously consider what God is asking you to do.

Think about it, pray about it and talk to people about it. Don't run from God.

Because like me and Jonah found out, you can't run far enough away and God never gives up on us, no matter how much we may want him to.

 

 

 

 

Count your Blessings

Hello again, another week has been and gone and here is another blog post! Its been a busy week at work and at the Corps. Yet I have had no idea all week what to do this post on. No idea at all until a few moments ago.

I was sat here thinking about how hard it was to be away on the ship. How often I felt very isolated and alone. How most of the time I hated it and just wanted to be back with the people I care about and love.

Now that I am back it has not really taken that long for me to take it for granted. Its easy to forget all the good things God has done for use when its all here around us. Its easy not to notice all the things God has done for us when we are surrounded by these great things.

It is far to easy for us to get side tracked by all the small things in life that worry us and the things that takes our attention away from thanking God for all he has done for us.

Song 396 in the Salvation Army Song Book came to mind.

1.
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Chorus
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

2.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly.
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

3.
So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.


So today why not put aside the problems you have; just for a few moments.
Think of all the things God has blessed you with.
Just spend a few moments thinking what he has done for you and then thank him for it.

I bet when you sit down and really think about it, you really will be surprised by all the things God has done for you.

The Sailing Salvationist.

My testimony

Hello again.

Clare is down this week, so finally we are getting to spend some time together! So todays post is a bit of a cheat. Two weeks ago we had a divisional meeting (service) and I had to give my testimony.

That made me wonder if I had told my whole story on this blog. Which I don't think I have yet. So here is my testimony!

Some of you know me, and some of you don't, so I didn't know exactly what to include in my testimony, but for those of you who don't know me I decided to start from the beginning.

I grew up in Falmouth Corps, where all my family attended, Yet at around the age of 14 like many young people of my generation I left the Army.

At 16 I joined the Royal Navy and quickly fell into bad habits. Smoking, drinking and girls were the main things that interested me. And I spent almost all my time not at work perusing these things.

As is the culture in the Forces if I was not at work I could be found down one of the pubs in town with the lads.

At 19 I got a girl pregnant and decided I should do the right thing as I thought and marry her. Getting married for all these wrong reasons ended in disaster and a nasty and painful divorce.

This all left me very bitter, twisted and angry. Now all I wanted to do was go out get drunk.

I was loaned to the Royal Marines and then the Army and ended up spending a lot of time out in Iraq.

I found that when I got home I struggled to cope with all the things I had seen and all that had happened. I struggled to sleep without nightmares so to sleep I would drink every night until I basically passed out drunk.

But this was a vicious destructive cycle and the more I drank the worse I felt and so the more I drank.

I went on a course in Portsmouth and when there I got into contact with a group of guys called the Naval Christian Fellowship.

It turned out that they would meet up once a week at the house of a guy called Steve, who lived just up the road from my camp. So I started hanging out with these guys every week and at weekends. I even started going to Church with them.

 I went with them to Momentum in 2010 and one evening decided now was the time to make a decision. I could not be a Christian half heartedly anymore, I either fully gave my life to Christ or I stopped playing at being a Christian. So I went to the front and asked Christ to forgive my sins and fill me with the Holy Spirit to empower me to change my life in the ways that I needed to.

There was no massive flash of light, no road to Damascus moment. And there was no instant change in my life, I didn't instantly become perfect, and I am still far from it now. But what did change was my desire to change, and the effort I put in to being a better follower of Jesus.

I  continued to hang out with the NCF guys and to go to church with them, but I still did not feel at home in the churches we went to. When in Feb 2011 I got drafted to RNAS Culdrose I returned to Falmouth Corps again. I found that I fitted right back in and felt I was back at home and where God wanted me to be.

I became an Adherent member early in 2011, I wanted to be a Soldier, however I felt that my life in the RN was not compatible with Salvation Army Soldiership. As the year went on I spent a lot of time in prayer and thought. I came to the decision that there was nothing stopping me becoming a Soldier in the SA except myself.

Yes there would be major aspects of my work and social life that I would have to change but that would not be impossible, just hard! In January 2012 I became a Soldier in The Salvation Army.

But I knew being a Soldier in the Army was not all God wanted from me, as much as I felt called to be a Soldier I felt called to officership. So in the past year I have applied to leave the Royal Navy and started the process to try to become a Salvation Army Officer.

This has been a massive leap of faith, leaving a job I love and one which I thought I would do until I retired. Many people, especially friends at work think that I am crazy.

And I have to admit there have been a few occasions when I have thought that about myself! But over the past few years no matter how much I have tried to ignore God and his calling or make excuses or put it off it has just not gone away.

There have been many challenges in the candidates process already, most of which have come from the Navy. However every time there has been a problem and I have been worried God has found a way around it or a solution to the problem.

I stand here today as proof of how God can change our lives. How when we trust in him and accept him into our hearts he can change everything in our lives.  

How when you put aside your fears and stop making excuses and follow his plan for you he will move all obstacles in your way.

It's not a guarantee of an easy life, in fact it's a lot harder. But if it is God's plan he will find a way and make it happen.

So to end my testimony today I would like to challenge you and ask;

what is God telling you he wants you to do today?

 

The Sailing Salvationist

What are you selling?

Hello again, I hope you have all had a great week. Things here have been busy as ever. 

As many of you know I am leaving the Navy very soon. So this week I was sent on a career transition workshop. Basically it was a course aimed to help me write my CV, get an interview and ultimatly get a job.

The main thing that came across over the course was the fact we need to sell ourselves. On the CV, in the interview, everywhere; when you are looking for a job its all about selling yourself to the employer.

In the forces in general, we are not to good at this. We do what we do and just get on with it, it seems to be a trend across the forces that we don't really apreciate the transferrable skills we have.

It seems in the civilian world people are a lot better at selling themselves and findingways of telling employers about the skills they have which the employer wants.

This all got me thinking. How much do we as Christians sell Jesus? Do we sell him at all?

I know there are times and situations when I struggle to tell people about Jesus. Times when I really struggle, and if I am honest I am afraid to; so don't. But I know this isn't right. I know there are times whenI should have told people about my faith, or times when people have even asked me about it and I have backed out.

So I guess i'm not always that great about telling people about Jesus. But then, I know that, have realised it and so can work on it.

But I also don't think "selling Jesus" is the correct term. We don't need to sell Jesus. What we need to do is show people Jesus and the changes he can make in our lives. Thats the biggest advertisment ever! Showing the light of Jesus through our actions and what we say and do, is in my eyes the best way to show people about Jesus. However we do need to back this up with telling people why we act the way we do and tell people the Changes the Holy Spirit has helped us to make.

The Sailing Salvationist.