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Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. A new door – to where? Doorways always lead to somewhere. It is best to know “where” before you enter! In 2002 this friend was putting up a new screen door to help keep the mosquitoes out of our house in Khartoum Bahri. How many doors will you enter through this week? A door is usually a hinged or sliding panel used for closing the entrance to a house, a room or a cupboard. It is a means of access or of escape. If you “show someone the door” you tell them to leave your home. An “open door” may also mean “a good opportunity set before a person”. Jesus spoke of closing the room’s door before praying, Matthew 6:6. He also said about prayer, “knock and the door will be opened to you”, Matthew 7:7. He was not talking about the door to the room! His meaning is that prayer, in line with His will, does change things. Closed things can become opened. Barriers can be removed. When the person inside the room hears you knocking he or she will call out, “Come in” (if you are welcome, that is).[1] Jesus also spoke of himself being outside the doorway of a church. He was knocking on the door, Revelation 3:20. Jesus wanted to come into the hearts, minds and lives of all the people inside the church. Any one who heard His knock could open the door. Jesus would come in for sweet, deep fellowship. Sadly, I have come to believe that too many Christians have “shown Jesus the doorway” in their lives (see the meaning above). He is told to leave because the demands of radical, obedient Christian discipleship are too costly and personally inconvenient. Instead of being Lord, Jesus is shown the door. After a while living their own way, such Christians may hear once more the gentle tapping of their consciences. Are you one such person? You know your life is not right – but you’re going to carry on living the wrong way anyhow! It is Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, who is seeking to interrupt your wayward and wasted life. He knocks because He wants to invite you back to Himself. He is offering you another “doorway of opportunity” in your life, (see above). It is your choice which doorway you enter. But I can tell you, of all the doors you pass through this week, this one Jesus offers you is by far the most important. [1] See Matthew 24:33 and 25:10-11 for other uses of “the door” by Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. March 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. Do you recognise this flower or the pods? They form the basis of some things that you use every day. You may not recognise them in this form, but this is a cotton flower and, above, two cotton buds. I grew these in my Bahri garden, just for fun. I still have a woven basket full of the cotton that I brought back to England when we had to leave Sudan in 2003. Cotton shirts, cotton dresses, and many more clothes are made, at least in part, from cotton itself. We recognise a shirt or a dress, but we don’t recognise the cotton flower or the cotton pod from which it was made. It seems totally different in one form to the other. At Good Friday and at Easter Day we Christians think especially about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This too can make us puzzle. What was actually happening all those years ago just outside of Jerusalem? On the cross, dying a human sinner’s death, was the Creator of the world. Your Creator and mine. With a crown of thorns prickling blood from his divine and human head, God the Son was mocked by a few of the people he was dying to help. He was saving you and saving me, taking sin’s penalty of death on to himself. Something seems terribly wrong. Is it possible that God himself is dying? Are Jesus’ claims true or false? “I and the Father are one”, he had said. A little earlier on, at the death of a friend, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life”. Was Jesus’ death on that cross going to lead anywhere? Well, yes it was! He continued: “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”. Jesus’ cross definitely leads beyond this present life, on into the next. Jesus’ cross leads to life in heaven! Finally, Jesus asked directly of all who heard him, (and indirectly of us who read him): “Do you believe this?”. I also ask you now, …….. do you believe this? If you do, you are on your way to your heavenly home! And Jesus’ cross has helped you, even if you did not recognise it at first. (See John 11:25-26) April 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. “And in Jesus Christ you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit”, Ephesians 2:22. Around Pentecost Sunday why not think about how God builds and shapes us in the church to become all He wants us to be? The pictured piles of bricks will be used by skilled builders to make homes, shops, public halls, churches and mosques. They will be chosen and carried to the right place where they can be used. Then they will be set in position on a good solid foundation. Using a plumb line for straightness each brick will be individually placed alongside other bricks. They will be above some and below others. Each brick will be carefully joined to those bricks close by to it. Perhaps then they will be covered by paint so that they themselves will become invisible. When the structure is finished and lived in no-one will even think about the individual bricks! Every single one will be forgotten as long as it is doing its job. However, if it cracks or crumbles the stone will very soon need to be replaced by a newer and stronger stone. It is often only the troublesome stones that are well-known! Carrying this picture into the Christian church, read Ephesians 2:19-22. God is building His church out of Christian people. He chooses us. He carries us. He sets us. He places us. He wants His church to be strongly “built up” together, Ephesians 4:11-13. Peter uses the same picture in 1 Peter 2:4-5. Christians are “living stones” in God’s building. Jesus Christ is our foundation stone, verse 6. Just as Jesus suffered and died before rising to life again and pouring out God the Holy Spirit to live within us, so we must be ready to accept daily hardships and the heavy weight of crushing spiritual responsibilities. God is still at work. Always remember, what God builds, God lives in! Believe it wherever He has designed for you to serve Him. Difficulties can be more easily borne when you know the architect and builder of your life is God. In His hands always try and remember to be what you are. You are filled with God the Holy Spirit Himself. God now lives in you to work through you His eternal purposes. May 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth”, 2 Timothy 2:15. A good life begins with studies. University choices determine which careers later open to the student. It is important for the Christian to know, understand and apply the Scripture as his or her prime guide for life. As a young man, Timothy was reminded by the older Paul, to always have a living and sincere faith, 1:5. He was to stir into action the gifts God had given him, 1:6. He was to keep speaking boldly about Jesus even when this brought him trouble, 1:8. He was to know, to observe and to defend the truths he had been taught, 1:13-14. I remember several times in my life when God reminded me to use the present time and get ready for the future service He had in mind for me. As a child I memorised Bible verses and Bible stories from Sunday School. As a late teenager I was called to study in a small Australian Bible College. I worked hard and saved up the money for my fees, board and lodging before I left England to study there. I took every chance I was given to preach or to testify. As a mature pastor I studied the Bible regularly, book by book, topic by topic, to be able to share with my congregations the lessons God himself had taught to me. I still study now in my semi-retirement. “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel”. 1 Timothy 2:5. June 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. Drums are used in many different ways. This drum was played for dancing at a wedding in Khartoum Bahri. Our neighbours were celebrating and we gladly joined them on their happy day. We always tried to witness for JESUS, in whom alone real joy and forgiveness is found. I remember hearing another kind of drum at a January 1st military parade. The Sudanese army marched past, keeping step by step to the drummed rhythm. I remember walking around a dusty area of Suk Mahale while two men beat their drums, assembling a big crowd. The people then came into the church for the meetings where I later preached. I remember other church services for the Nuer and the Dinka in Khartoum Evangelical Church. Each had six to seven hundred men singing in praise of God – using no musical instruments except for a drum to keep everyone’s voices in time and together – and all making a wonderful, spine-tingling sound. I am told drums can also be used in war, to beat warnings, to beat commands, and to beat musical celebrations. I can drum simply using my fingers on my desk. I don’t need a drum to do this. Perhaps you can do it too? I can happily tap my fingers along to songs of praise in worship of God, because my heart is happy with His gifts of forgiveness and salvation to me. In the past I used to hum the tunes as well as drum my fingers, but I cannot hum since I lost my voice-box to cancer in 2006. Using my same drumming fingers I can point out warnings from the Bible, warnings to people who think they know better than God. They may have chosen to follow religions men have made up rather than Christianity. Christianity is the true religion. God has shown Himself and His salvation. “The Father has sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world”, 1 John 4:14. “Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert”, Hebrews 3:7-8. July 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. If you visit a manufacturing factory you will see how various raw materials are worked on to become a finished consumer product. Water, sugar, cola pods, steel, glass become a capped bottle of coca-cola Kenana canes, beaten, heated and refined become sugar for a cup of tea Microchips, switches, pressed plastic panels, etc. become TVs or computers Leaves, seeds and fruit, boiled, dried and pressed become medication All the items for sale in these shops (pictured) have been processed one way or another The owner or manager of the factory chooses suitable raw materials and a good location. He hires a qualified workforce and sets his business to work. Everything he does is governed by the end result – a quality, saleable product. When God chooses people to be His own, He knows what He plans to make out of them. The processes He uses may be tough, but each one of them is necessary: Fiery situations will refine us Trying circumstances will strengthen us Washing will cleanse and purify us Hammerings will shape us Hurts will sensitise us “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”, James 1:2-4. God is at work in us, simply making us what He wants us to be! See also Hebrews 12:1-13. August 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”, Matthew 4:19. After Jesus had risen from the dead He met His disciples on several occasions. One event can be read in John 21:1-14. From reading this I notice that: The disciples were fishing to earn their living – fish to eat and to sell. Being a follower of Jesus does not excuse a person from working in the workaday world! Verses 1-3. Jesus’ own disciples did not recognise that the Man they could see on the shore was the person they had lived to follow for the last three years! Being a disciple does not automatically mean that we understand events correctly. Verse 4. It was by following advice from a stranger, advice about their everyday work, that the disciples discovered Jesus was alive and was still with them. Verses 5-7. We Christians need to be willing to go and find Jesus at work amongst our non-Christian neighbours and colleagues. This miraculous sign – a large catch of fish precisely where Jesus told his disciples to throw their net – is one of the stories written in order that readers “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”, John 20:31. Are you sure you believe? These same men went on to give their own lives to the service of the Lord Jesus. Read their accounts in the New Testament book of Acts. They went to their own people. Then they went to people of a different race and different religion. They lived God-honouring lives in an Empire that worshipped its own power and its ruling Emperor. They dared to be different from other people. Many of them paid the ultimate price. They lived, and they died, for Jesus – who had first lived and died for them. As we Christians “fish” for men, that is, as we seek to see men and women converted to being 21st century followers of Jesus, remember that it is Jesus’ own words which promise: “I will make you fishers of men”. September 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. Sometimes it can be tricky to change direction – especially when you are travelling on water in a boat. You wish to deliver your precious cargo safely to its destination. Boats must always be carefully and skilfully handled. a small boat. a heavily laden boat. It can also be difficult to change your direction in Christian life. You must leave some things behind. It may seem a huge challenge to turn your church into a more godly direction. It may seem dangerous to “rock the boat”. But when God wants something to be done He often calls people He knows will be (1) courageous enough and (2) careful enough to get His job done. a river taxi. a merchant boat. Turning a boat too quickly will often result in capsize. People and cargo are thrown into the water, sometimes with tragic consequence. Driving a boat too fast may bring accidental hurt to passengers, crew, or even to other “innocent” river users. Christian, learn the lesson of dying to your own wishes in order to come alive only for what God wants. Know that God will get you there, right on His time. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God”. Colossians 3:2-3. “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?”, Colossians 2:20. Never make the mistake of trying to do God’s work by using the methods of the world in which you live! God’s work must be done in God’s way or it ends up never being God’s work at all. Kneel before the cross of Jesus Christ and say, “Here I am Lord. Use me as You wish to use me. The ship of my life will follow Your way alone”. October 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. Why do we always find it so hard to get along well with our neighbours when they come from a different tribe or culture? Photo: me with two of my neighbours in Khartoum North. Our Lord Jesus told a story to show how we can try to “love God with all our hearts, souls, strength and minds” and “love our neighbours in the same way we love ourselves (and people who are like us)”, Luke 10:25-37. Those of us who have been going to church since we were children probably have known the story of the Good Samaritan for a long time. Today, in the situation our country of Sudan finds itself, we must learn to apply this message from our Lord Jesus, and to live by His teaching day after day. Jesus began the story by saying his questioner had answered correctly that keeping these two laws will prove a person has eternal life, verse 28. In other words, it is not enough to say you are a Christian, you must show you are a Christian by your lifestyle (even when the crowd around you urges you to do something else). The Samaritan’s good work showed he was a Christian. The job of every Christian neighbour is: 1. Do not ignore other people around you, especially not on the grounds of religion or race, see verses 31-32. 2. Get among people of whatever background so that you can find ways to express your God’s caring love to them, see verse 33. 3. Let your God move your heart with pity and fill your actions with compassion, so you can be like Jesus, see verse 33. 4. Share what is necessary with people in need and be prepared to put his or her needs above your own comfort and ease, see verse 34. 5. “Get your hands dirty” by becoming involved with a person from a totally different background to your own, see verse 34. 6. Use some of your own resources to help meet the legitimate needs of people around you. Do not impose on the goodness of others – pay your own way in giving compassion, see verse 35. 7. To sum it all up, live as the Good Samaritan lived, and do not be like the priest nor the Levite, see verse 37. “Go and do the same as him”. As Jesus lived and moved amongst ALL people, so should we be examples of Christian love and heartfelt service to ALL others. Take up your own cross! November 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. God made sure that shepherds were among the first to hear the Good News of Christmas. I offer you four thoughts we can all share with the shepherds of Sudan during this Christmas time. We can share them with other people too! “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger”, Luke 2:10-11. 1. God has done the impossible. The incarnation of God as man is a stunning miracle. Mary served God by receiving the pure heaven-given seed. Luke 1:34-38. God the Holy Spirit overshadowed the young virgin. God the Son was born Jesus. Jesus, a sinless human life. Now Jesus could become our Saviour, because He would die in place of all sinners. A spotless Lamb would die to save Sudan’s shepherds! 2. We can see the invisible God. Mary nursed her baby son to be her own Saviour! Joseph may have helped Jesus learn the basic skills of carpentry, but Jesus’ death on a wooden cross was destined to be His greatest ever work. Elizabeth Luke 1:41-44; Simeon Luke 2:25-32; Anna Luke 36-38; Simon Peter Matthew 16:16; a Roman centurion Matthew 27:54; and two disciples on their way to Emmaus Luke 24:25-35; were among the people who recognised in the ‘living, dying and living again Jesus’, the very person and presence of Almighty God. 3. God’s kingdom has come. A kingdom is where the King rules. The King’s words are Law. Sudanese people are soon to have an opportunity to choose their human rulers. Whatever happens in (and after) the January 9th referendum, Christian Sudanese will always keep their first loyalty as living God’s way. They will follow personal and corporate holiness as their only way of life, Matthew 4:17; Matthew 4:19; Matthew 5:1-16. Christian Sudanese will live the same attractive way their King Jesus himself lived here on this earth. 4. King Jesus will soon come again. “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven”, Acts 1:11. Live everyday ready to let go of all your earthly things and ready for your most important life to begin! That’s good news for all shepherds everywhere this Christmas! December 2010.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell (1) in Christ, and (2) through Christ to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace (3 )through Christ’s blood, shed on the cross”. Colossians 1:19-20. Sudanese people come in all shapes and sizes. We speak a variety of languages. Our diverse cultures and myriad tribal traditions give us a rich history to pick over when we try to define precisely what it means to be “Sudanese”! No Sudanese is designed to be independent from God. God wants every single one to depend on him in this life and beyond, into the next. “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you (4) by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight..” Colossians 1:21-22. Since God respects all Sudanese people, whatever background they have come up through, and whichever religion they presently follow, our own following of Jesus Christ requires us to honour, respect and love every other Sudanese person whom we come into contact with. In 2011 we Christian disciples follow our Lord Jesus Christ in our own lifestyle choices. “ (5) Christ in you, the only hope of glory” Colossians 1:27. January 2011.

Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life. “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law”, Galatians 5:16, 22-23. How many kinds of fruit can you see on this one market stall? Look as closely as you can. You may miss some. I make at least 20, but there will be more, especially if you can recognise different types of the same basic fruit. When you watch people buying fruit, you will notice they don’t like fruit that is bruised, scratched or otherwise damaged. The purchaser puts down fruit which is over or under ripe. He may judge this by touch or smell, or sometimes both. Fruit should come to market with it’s skin intact, leaving no room for disease or vermin to have entered through a rip, a burst or a tear. People are quite rightly “picky” about the fruit they buy at the souk. When God talks about a Christian life “bearing fruit”, He has every right to be demanding in the quality He wants to see in us. God doesn’t just want to see “love”. He wants to see sacrificial and loyal love. God is not really satisfied with “joy” when He sees us just having fun ourselves. God prefers selfless joy to selfish happiness. What kind of “peace” does God want? I am sure it is not only the absence of fighting and war, important although that is. God is likely looking for a steady quietness of heart which brings all feelings under firm yet gracious self-control. Events in Sudan’s future will judge how genuine a peace we have before us at the moment. Patience is the strong ability to wait with a quiet confidence that God will ultimately bring the just cause to the forefront, and people will recognise that God’s way is the best way – indeed the only way to really progress. Kindness involves doing to, and for, other people the things you would really enjoy someone doing for you. It doesn’t expect anything back in return. Goodness must be through and through all we are and do. We have all bought some fruit that has then gone rotten from the inside out! No-one likes that to happen, ever! Faithfulness we see in the loyal service given by some to their career, serving through the good and the bad times, equally well. Gentleness gives attractiveness to any person. It exudes grace and mercy, having firsthand personal experience of both. Self-control I mentioned above under “peace”. The two are invariably linked. If God should come to buy some fruit from the stall of your life this week, will He be pleased with what He sees? Will He buy a lot? Or will He turn to go elsewhere, with a sadly disappointed look on His face? May our lives give our Lord sweet refreshment! February 2011.