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We are now entering the second day of the lockdown, the second day staying at home. I can only just thank the Lord for our home, a place where I know His peace rests - despite all the noise! There are certainly far worse places to spend 21 days, and that's what is on my mind this morning. For my family, home is a place we want to be - at least most of the time, in a push my kids would probably say their grandparents homes would be preferable! But for some others home is not a place they want to be. For them home is a place of argument and conflict, even of physical or emotional abuse. Home may be a place of loneliness. For some, these 21 days are a sentence, a prison lockdown. This is a difficult and sad reality to acknowledge.It is in thinking of those who face this difficult situation that I read the words from Psalm 68:4-6.4 Sing praises to God and to His name!    Sing loud praises to Him who rides the clouds.His name is the LORD—    rejoice in His presence!5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—    this is God, whose dwelling is holy.6 God places the lonely in families;    He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.But He makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. My God is a Strong God. He is a Father to the fatherless, a Defender of the most vulnerable. He is near to the lonely, drawing them into His family where they are loved. He sets free those who are imprisoned, even though they are locked down. I will sing the praises of my God because He is able to save those who are in danger, He will heal the hurt, He will preserve the suffering enabling them to endure. Though I am powerless to help the vulnerable and afflicted, He is not. Therefore I will pray and ask Him to rescue them, to protect them, to comfort them, to set them free in their hearts so that they would fear no man.Please join me in praising our Strong God. Father to the fatherless, defender of widows - this is God...https://youtu.be/IV9hvXou53w

Yesterday, despite being quite hectic, started well enough by replacing a little part in my engine. I have not invested much time into “handy man” type activities and I enjoy it when I have the opportunity to do something technical with my hands even when I’m not 100% sure what I’m doing.So this little part (seen in the image to the right) is called a Coolant Temperature Sensor (I think), and it plays a large role in the car starting effectively and a bunch of other important stuff which I’m sure many of the mechanically minded people can tell me about. Anyway, I replaced the part and the car started! The day couldn’t have begun any better!Cammie and I did some last minute running around like filling up with some petrol just in case we needed to get to the shops during the lockdown and on our way home my car started shouting at me! I looked down and saw that it was informing me that it was currently overheating and would probably be a good idea if I stopped before the engine exploded! The cause of all this car drama was that the new sensor I had just installed wasn’t functioning correctly. While my car was now starting just fine this new sensor was causing a whole different problem. A Coolant Temperature Sensor (I think...) What I got from this rather frustrating experience is that small changes can make a big impact. This one little part in the engine if not functioning properly can cause a multitude of problems and if simply changed to a functioning part makes everything work as intended. And this got me thinking – what areas of my life are currently not functioning as optimally as possible?I must admit, with everything going on in the country at the moment it is easy to fall into negative patterns of thinking. The problem is that if we allow our minds to fixate on negativity this will lead to impacting what we believe and if negative beliefs are not challenged this can then impact how we behave. It is a domino effect – Our mind can impact our heart and our heart can impact our actions.While doing some research on the topic I came across two scriptures which show us how making small changes in how we think can clearly impact us for the better:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God – Romans 12:28 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you – Phillipians 4:8-9Much love,Luke

Today has been a busy day. I know this because I'm only writing this blog post now, late in the evening, despite knowing this morning what I wanted to write. I'm sure it has been a busy day for all of you as we approach the hour of the lockdown. There are just so many things to sort out, to go and buy, family and friends to visit before not seeing them in person for nearly a month. The stores have been chaotic - so much for social distancing! All this hustle and bustle made me think of how it must have been like for Noah and his family getting everything ready on the ark before the rains hit. Sure, it took a long time to build the ark, but the loading of the pairs of animals only happened in the 7 days before the rains fell (Gen 7:6-10). There must have been a lot of frantic activity on the ark, making sure everything was ready. Did they have enough food for all the animals? Was there enough food for the family? Did they buy enough toilet paper?!? As the day approached, and Noah and his family thought about the long period of time they would be cooped up in the ark floating. I'm sure there was a great deal of apprehension, doubt, even fear. Scholar's reckon that the family and all the animals spent about a year in the ark! The 40 days and nights was merely the period of constant rain and flooding. It took a long time for the waters to finally recede after they had wiped out all life on earth. In that light maybe 21 days isn't so bad... Here's the amazing thing though. When the family and all the animals were on board. When the rains and floods started. It was God who closed the door, who shut them in safe and sound: 13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in, (Genesis 7:13-16). It's such a small detail. One we might even miss in reading the account. And yet it is worth taking special note of it. To me it speaks of God's tender care for us, His people. God personally shut them in the ark, like a parent tucks in their child ensuring they are safe and warm. It's reminder that we are loved by God and He will look after us. So if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the flood…

The other day I was flicking through a few YouTube videos and came across one that was highlighting the talent of a young man on the current season of American Idol. It was an excellent performance that actually caused one of the judges to cry. What stood out to me wasn’t his transparent emotion but the fact that he felt that he needed to apologise for his tears.And this got me thinking – why do people often apologise when they cry? Is it because they feel embarrassed or is it maybe because they feel like they are making others feel uncomfortable? I can’t remember the last time I saw someone apologise for having a good time or someone saying sorry because they were so excited about a situation they didn’t know what to do with themselves. So why do we often feel as if we need to apologize for crying?A psychologist by the name of Sheryl Paul answers this question in the following way:“Well, it's not a difficult question to answer. The vast majority of my clients — and the human population — grew up with the very clear message that crying wasn't welcome or even tolerable. "Get over it" was the message that most kids were — and still are — raised with. Because if you're a parent who hasn't embraced your own pain, who still views pain through the lens of shame that you absorbed when you were a child, you can't possibly create an environment in which your child feels safe to cry.” Crying is a natural response to painful and difficult situations and we don’t need to apologise when we become so overwhelmed we don’t know what to do other than cry – there is no shame in this action. I must admit that the impending lockdown and all its ramifications has had me quite emotional. On Monday I was on the verge of tears because I was feeling so overwhelmed and I’m sure many of you may be feeling the same way.But do you know that our God is so great that he doesn’t turn away when we cry? He doesn’t feel uncomfortable and tell us to stop – he welcomes our tears because he loves us and cares about how we are feeling. While David was in the custody of his enemies he wrote these words in Psalm 56:8; 10-11.8 You yourself have recorded my misery Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise,11 in God I trust; I will not be afraidWe can find comfort in the fact that God remembers the pain we have gone through in this life – he doesn’t forget about a single tear we have shed. David was so confident in this fact that he used the imagery of God collecting every tear in a bottle and recording our pain in a book. And while there are still many tears for us to cry…