T-shirt disagreement...

It was another great time at the 'helping hands' ministry, serving a meal to over 100 refugees from Afghanistan. Although it is hard to hold conversations due to limited English, I did have a good chat with one of the refugees who is hoping to travel to Italy next week before finally making the journey to Germany. As you may have seen on the news recently, these journeys are treacherous and also cost a great deal of money. We pray each week that the refugees will come to know Jesus the only name under heaven by which we must be saved!

At school, it was a much better Tuesday in comparison to last week. One of my classes which are somewhat challenging were much better today praise God. This week I was ready for them and my classroom management strategies seemed to work. The other class I have on Tuesday are a delight to teach and I rewarded them with some post-lesson Haribo. Using sweets with school children is something of an art I am finding. If you get it wrong then it can back fire when all your class are saying 'haribo, haribo!'. But get it right and the results can be very positive indeed.

Post-lesson reward...
6 children + Haribo + 30 seconds =

On my way back from the 'helping hands' ministry, I spotted something on the metro which made me cry out with a big noooooo inside. It was something which in many ways sums up the growing thought about what life is all about. What was it? It was a T-shirt. A big T-shirt, with big writing saying - 'Life is all about creating yourself'. I disagree with this because I think it creates two problems. 1. Life becomes all about me. And when it becomes all about me, not only do I lose sight of God (the true creator), other people become obstacles in my way, competitors rather then people to serve and love. In Ecclesiastes 7:29 - the writer puts it like this - God created mankind upright,
    but they have gone in search of many schemes.
 
2. It doesn't work. What happens if I fail? What happens if the thing I've been creating (job, family, money etc) doesn't go as planned or worse is taken from me? Only when I start to see material things, my life and the lives of those around me as good gifts from God the creator, will I have my life in correct perspective. We were created to worship the creator not his creations - yet we exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen (Romans 1:25). And so, I don't normally have disagreements with items of fashion but I thought this one needed consideration. Life isn't about creating myself, it's about knowing God, the one who created me and gave me life, not so I could serve myself, but so I could serve him and others. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).