I have recently returned from a conference at Cliff College near Sheffield called 'Influence'. It only lasted one and half days but was both stimulating in terms of ideas and invigorating in terms of personal faith. Here are just three details:a) As we were singing "Lord, reign in me again" and as I was trying to mean what I sang, I was distracted by thoughts of a massive workload accumulating back home, of a wife and children who were not present to share my current experiences, of a wandering mind which sometimes leads me into fantasy worlds where life is much more exciting and less problematic than the real world, of a variety of leisure interests which I enjoy but which can distract from more important activity... and then we reached this line. "You are the Lord of all that I am." Those last four words encapsulated everything - work, leisure, family, personality, even my daydreams. God is not looking for some non-existent perfectly spiritual person to submit to him, but for me to do so - for "all that I am" to be at his disposal. With that insight I was able to sing the last line with heartfelt passion - "Won't you reign in me again!"
b) During a time of prayer and ministry, one of the leaders prayed for me that I would have a renewed expectation of what God could do and trust him to answer prayers. When I returned to my seat I decided I couldn't have any expectations fulfilled if I didn't have any expectations. So what should I expect to happen? Our church is on the verge of employing a family worker, but we have been waiting for many weeks for the CRB clearance to come through. The most recent provisional starting date was less than a week away. I wrote down a prayer - that by Monday we would have received the long-awaited clearance. I tried to believe it would happen, not just for my own benefit, but for the sake of the church. The day after I arrived home (Friday), the family worker called to say she had received clearance. God didn't let us down.
c) Returning from the mountain top of a Christian event down to the valley of humdrum life can all too easily lower the spirits. It seems to me that one mark of a good encounter with God is that it makes everyday life brighter rather than duller. I've now been home for almost two days and back into the necessary routine. (And this is the first chance I've had to record anything in my blog.) But the sense of interaction with God is still there. I may have left behind the rarefied atmosphere of a Bible College, but I've not moved out of God's presence.
