TENby, Dates & Tapestries

Blogspot by Cass & Joel Pridmore

On Thursday this week we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary.

Dates such as anniversaries and birthdays hold special significance in our calendars and give us opportunity to consider the picture of our lives.

On this date in 2003 we were enjoying our honeymoon in the auspicious surroundings of a static caravan in Tenby… so, ten years on, we headed back to Tenby again for a repeat date with Fecci’s superb fish and chips with curry sauce! As we ate, we reflected on our journey so far – the good times and the bad times! Dates like these are landmarks when we can thank God for His faithfulness and His forgiveness. We have seen both of these significantly weaved into our picture in our ten years.

Hindsight, they say, is a beautiful thing – and there are always going to be things that you would have done differently. However, these are often the times when you will grow the most and when we can experience the grace of God. Our mistakes need not hold us back; often God takes our mistakes and uses them for benefit. There are also memories that we wish we could go back to. Good times from the past can seem so appealing, but cannot hold the things you’ve learned and there is always a new day waiting for you.

When you have key dates in your own calendar, take a moment to see how God has weaved your good times and the bad times into the beautiful tapestry of your life.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him”

(Romans 8:28)

'Swings and Squash' by Amy Dutton

‘Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity.’ (Hebrews 6 v 1)

Somehow I’ve reached that age when lots of my friends are getting married and are ‘offspring-ing’ all over the country and suddenly I feel compelled to grow up a little. Becoming a grown up is scary by the way. I still forget to do little things like check labels on clothes that say, “Please don't wash me with red things, I'm white, stupid,” and never ever seem to own milk or bread. I'm clinging onto childhood by the skin of my teeth; I still love swings and jelly snakes and blackcurrant squash. It makes me think though. How many of us grasp onto childhood in our faith? Yes, ‘childlike faith’ is a beautiful thing, but are we using this as an excuse for a faith that requires no responsibility? Are we waiting for a set of over-zealous asparagus in Veggie Tales to help us get to know our Creator, or are we...am I...willing to make the effort to further my relationship with our Father, asking what, where and how he wants us to be? How much more is there for us to discover as we step out from a Sunday school, spoon-fed faith. Where will God send us when we respond? Who does He want us to stand alongside and what gifts does He long for us to use to glorify His name? Yes, it’s easy to envy children, but childhood is only for a time. With growing up comes responsibility, but also freedom...to adventure beyond the walls of the playground or your imagination. I know I am too easily persuaded to sit in comfortable immaturity rather than living the wild, abandoned life that reflects His character in me...are you?

'Teddy Bear’s Picnic' by Joel Pridmore

This time next week, we will hopefully be getting ready to head to the beach for a church picnic!

I am hoping that it will be a time of deep inner healing for me as I have experienced picnic-oriented trauma this week.

On Tuesday we went to catch a few songs at the bandstand where our very own Colin (who was 60 yesterday!!!) was playing as part of the Aberystwyth Silver Band. We were enjoying the show and Lydia was dancing away. And then… Christine volunteered me to sing a song along with the band… ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic.’ My attempts to refuse were entirely futile and to my horror I found myself in front of a crowd of people I didn’t know, singing a song that it turns out I don’t know, in a key that was not good for my vocal range, and that felt like it lasted about 2 hours! Sound bad? Trust me… it was worse. I can’t remember being that embarrassed in years! It wasn’t even good enough to be funny for the onlookers. It was SO BAD!

As we cycled home (with Lydia screaming in her seat on the back of my bike because we had stopped her dancing) I realised how healthy for my soul it was to have been taken so far out of my comfort zone and to feel so ridiculous in front of those people – it really did my heart good to be so humbled!

By the time I got home I had started to forgive Cathryn for crying with laughter through the whole traumatic event and Amy for videoing it on her phone. In time, perhaps the wounds will heal – but if anyone tries to sing that song in front of me at our picnic next week… Don’t be surprised if you end up in the water. You have been warned.

^James4:6 …‘God opposes the proud
    but shows favour to the humble.’

‘A44’ BlogSpot by Joel Pridmore

This is easily one of my favourite roads; you know… the one to Rhayader. God taught me something as I journeyed along it on Wednesday.

I was on a tight schedule heading to Cefn Lea for a gathering of people from across Wales, and I got stuck behind some slow moving ‘pootler’ as we called them in my family when I was growing up! It was a beautiful day and the sun was making those mountains and streams look even more glorious than usual. Not that I knew anything about it myself… all I could think about was trying to get past this blinking slow car in front of me.

I was totally missing the beauty around me. That’s when I felt the Holy Spirit say… “Wait a minute, chill out and enjoy the journey.”

I was allowing this small unimportant obstacle in front of me to completely steal the enjoyment and wonder of some of my favourite scenery in the world!

Let’s choose this week to ensure that we stop for a moment and enjoy the journey. Take a look around you and think about the innumerable blessings that God has given you. Look to the left and the right of your own car and celebrate the beauty and the blessings in the lives of those around you. Look to the North and the South and see what God has done and is doing. Take a breath for a second and enjoy the journey whatever small obstacles are affecting your journey.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

(Psalm 46:10)

'The ‘State’ of Christians These Days' by Joel Pridmore

Sunday 9 June 2013

.When I say the state of Christians, I am not talking about the poor fashion choices that have sometimes been considered synonymous with Christianity! I’m not even talking about the problems facing the Church or the poor media image of the Church that are often all too evident – sometimes (sadly) justifiably. In light of this week’s political developments with the same sex marriage bill passing through the House of Lords and Her Majesty the Queen’s alleged undermining of her coronation oath as ‘Defender of the Faith.’ I wonder… Can there be such a thing as a Christian State? If so, is it a good thing? Especially given that I see no political intent in Christ’s life and teaching and the Church (capital C) so often seems to thrive where the culture around is hostile. There is a place where the perfect Christian state exists. In this place, Gods ways are perfectly observed and His will always accomplished. That place is Heaven. We must remember that Heaven is where our true citizenship lies as believers. We can seek to ensure our voice is heard in declaring the truth of God’s words. We can warn the world around us of the dangers of going against the Lord’s ways. But more than this, we must live lives that embody God’s commands as revealed in Christ – Above all, loving God and loving one another. Whether it is by way of politics or by way of simple acts of selfless love, there needs to be more evidence of the Kingdom of God being manifest in our lives and in the communities that we are a part of. "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:20- 21). Lord, we pray You will help us manifest your goodness and Your kingdom as we seek to love you and to love our community.

'Give a Dog a Good Name' BlogSpot by Brian Garrod

Sunday 2 June 2013

As many of you know, we have heard the patter of tiny feet in our family recently. Four feet and a waggly tail to be precise – a puppy. We decided to call him Idris – a solid, old-fashioned, distinctly Welsh name. If you like this name, good on you for having excellent taste. If you don’t, yah boo sucks :-P We had a lot of trouble choosing his name. I had some good ideas but nobody else in the family seemed to agree with me. My first suggestion was “Woof” because I reckoned it would be the only name the puppy could say for himself. Then if he got himself lost he could tell everyone who he is. That got me thinking about the kind of names I’d like to be shouting all over the neighbourhood if he did get lost. Shouting “hey, Sweetie, come over here” would possibly attract the wrong kind of attention. Working on the same basis, I also thought “Free Food” would be a good choice. You might not get your dog back but at least it would provoke a positive response. A certain Pastor’s wife took this a step further by suggesting we call him “Jesus Saves”. Nice one Cathryn! But there is a serious point here. The Bible says that “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2: 10-11). There is power in the name of Jesus for our salvation. All you need to do is call for Jesus. Call his name in the darkness and he will bring you into his glorious light!

'Holy Go…’ By Joel Pridmore

Sunday 19 May 2013

According to the Christian Calendar, today is Pentecost Sunday. Elim is a family of Pentecostal churches representing about 550 churches in the UK and many more overseas. So what do we mean when we say we are Pentecostal? Basically that we believe that the Holy Spirit empowerment that the believers experienced at Pentecost is every bit as real, available and needed today as it was all those years ago in the ‘Upper Room.’ We believe in two baptisms for believers. We will celebrate water baptism next week with two people who have been given new life. It symbolises the cleansing of our sin that we receive through Jesus and of our sharing in His death and resurrection as we go under and rise from the water. The other baptism is referred to by John the Baptist as being ‘baptised with the Holy Spirit and with fire’ through Jesus. Elim started as an evangelistic initiative nearly 100 years ago, and we must continue to realize today that the purpose of being baptised in the Holy Spirit is the power to live the life of a witness. It is not simply so that we can stand in a church building and feel blessed or look spiritual, but that we will be empowered to reach this world with the good news of Jesus Christ. Go to as many meetings as you can, but if there is no evangelistic fruit, then it may be questionable whether it was the Holy Spirit that was at work in you! To quote George Werver at this year’s Elim Bible Week: “The Holy Ghost equals a Holy Go… We must evangelise or suffocate.” “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:2-4)