NHCF Blog

One of my favorite parts of working in the garden is the sense of accomplishment you feel at the end of the day. Before we started yesterday afternoon the grass was looking a little long, some of the flower beds needed to be raked, and a few little things needed a bit of a handyman’s touch – and we got most of it done. When looking around at what we had accomplished we felt good! I wish we could experience the same instant sense of accomplishment when it comes to our spiritual growth. I have been reading a really challenging book about authentic Christianity and have been identifying areas of my life that eventually need to look different. It has been difficult to come to terms with since these changes are going to happen over a period of time and are not going to be easy. When it comes to growing spiritually this is not something that be achieved like gardening. You can’t wake up one day and declare, “Today I will be spiritually mature!” Maturity takes time, it takes consistency and often, the changes which will take place will not always be able to be observed from the outside. Spiritual growth is an internal change which impacts our actions. Spiritual growth occurs in our hearts first and that heart change often takes time. One of my favorite scriptures that I come back to over and over again is found in 1 Samuel 16:7:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”Samuel, when tasked with going to anoint the new king, fell prey to being impressed by the outward appearance of one of David’s brothers. But God is clear – God sees our hearts and this is what ultimately counts. Heart change takes time and cannot be tackled in a day – but the effort that we expend to allow the Holy Spirit to bring about this change is completely worth it. At the end of the day spiritual growth is gradual – sometimes unnoticeable – but the more it occurs, the more we look like Jesus. And I really want to look and live like the one who saved me and who has the power to save the world around me.Much love,Luke

Ah, doing the washing. I'm willing to bet that during this lockdown many people have discovered just how much clothing their household goes through in a week. Who knew we owned this many clothes?!? Does it never end?!?I've been doing the washing in our house for years (not the ironing though!) and so none of this has come as a surprise. I'm an old hand at these things, as some of you are too. I know all too well that loading the washing machine is the quick and easy part, it's the hanging of the washing that takes a long time. Well, at least for me it does. Apparently no one in the house can take off an item of clothing without it getting turned inside out, so before I hang the clothes I turn them the right way round, I also match up the socks, and carefully arrange the spacing so that I can fit the maximum amount of clothes on the line. Yep, I've been domesticated! I also tend do a few loads of washing, fill up the baskets and then go hang it all up in one go. This way I don't break up my work flow on sermons and other admin tasks too much. It does mean, however, that those hanging sessions can take a fair while and to keep me sane I've found a way to redeem the time. Let me explain what I mean by redeeming the time. In Ephesians 5:15-16 Paul has these words to say:15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (NKJV)Other translations put it this way: "making the best use of time" or "making the most of every opportunity". In a broader sense Paul is urging us, as believers who have seen the light of Christ, not to carry on living in the darkness engaged in sinful or frivolous pursuits. Within this point he is urging us to be prudent with the limited amount of time we have on this earth. This not to say that we have to try and do more and more for God to the point of burnout. Rather let us be wise with our time. One way that we can do that is to take the time spent on mundane tasks, like hanging the washing, or sitting in traffic (as we used to do), and find a way to enhance or "redeem" that time to further and grow our relationship with the Lord.There are many different ways we can do this and I encourage you to think about how you can redeem the time in your own daily routine. Whether it involves prayer, worship or study, you'll need to find what will work best for you. For me, when it comes to hanging the washing I've often found it helpful to play some music on a bluetooth speaker via my phone. Then I am able to worship as I peg up the clothes. But what…

 I often jokingly refer to myself as “that guy.” What I mean by this is that when something goes wrong it often happens to me. Last year, while packing away dishes, I managed to stab myself in the hand and needed to get stitches. Later that same year, while in Botswana on our mission trip, I was the only one to get bitten by a dog and needed to go to the hospital and complete a course of rabies injections (just in case I was the guy who got rabies!). This brings me to the latest example: this morning while walking inside to get something, I managed to slip on the step, bang up many of my toes and smack my arm really hard on the door frame. I responded to the sudden influx of pain by throwing one of Seth’s toys, and then punching the door (which then cut up my hand a bit!) Now you may be wondering, “Did you really have to punch the door?” And my response is, “Yes!” It was simply a distraction from the amount of pain I was feeling in my feet in that moment and it genuinely seemed to help. After all the various sources of pain began to dissipate, I caught myself asking the very same question I did when reflecting on stabbing myself and getting bitten by a dog – “why!?” I see all three of these examples of getting hurt as unnecessary and completely avoidable so why did they happen? I hadn’t been able to answer this question until I really thought about it this morning.While looking at my fresh wounds I was reminded of the amount of physical pain Jesus went through for me. I was reminded of the crucifixion accounts and all the previous research I had done on the process Jesus went through, as well as the excruciating pain He experienced and endured so that we could receive forgiveness for our sins when we believe in Him. These words from Isaiah 22:13-14 impact me nearly every time I read them:13 See, my servant will be successful;he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.14 Just as many were appalled at you—his appearance was so disfiguredthat he did not look like a man,and his form did not resemble a human being One interpretation of this text is that it is speaking about the result of the physical punishment Jesus received on the day He was crucified. In light of this I cannot even fathom what Jesus looked like after His multiple beatings, scourging and crucifixion. Yet He willingly went through all of it for us so that we might be saved. This is sorely needed reminder of just how much God truly loves us. And instead of complaining or having a “woe is me” attitude in response to pain, I thought what would be more helpful is to use that pain to be a reminder of what Jesus went through for me. At the end of the day, as…

For today’s blog post I’ll need to give a big of background information, so please bear with me.One of the hobbies that I have got into lately is that of Sim Racing. “What on earth is that?” you may ask. Well essentially it is like a car racing game played on the computer (or Xbox, or PlayStation) but with a focus on realism, where things like tyre wear and temperature, fuel consumption, damage and suspension settings are all taken into account. Essentially the goal is to simulate actual racing as close as possible.Towards the end of last year I got involved in a casual league, participating in one or two online races a month. It was a great deal of fun, despite the fact that I had to use an Xbox controller to race with. The ideal is to have a wheel and pedal setup which gives you much greater control and helps to it feel more like you’re really driving. I would have loved to get my own wheel but the problem is that these wheel setups are not cheap, and so getting one would have to remain a pipe dream. Oh I really did want one, but there were far more important things, it was certainly not a need. And yet, God knew my heart. I hadn’t directly prayed for a wheel, there were other far more significant things to bring before Him in prayer. Despite this He answered that unsaid prayer through the generosity of one of the guys in our league who, out of the blue, sent me a message saying that he was upgrading to a new wheel setup and that I was welcome to have his old one. I was blown away and knew immediately that this was from the Lord.I remember sitting there just praising Him, not so much for the wheel itself (although it is pretty awesome!) but more for the fact that He cares for me so much that He even cares for the things that I care for.  Surely the God of the universe has more important things to attend to, more pressing prayer needs to address, that a trivial thing like this would not even feature on His agenda? And yet it did.I was reminded of the following passages of Scripture:9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”   (Matthew 7:9-11)3 Trust in the Lord and do good;    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.4 Take delight in the Lord,    and He will give you the desires of your heart.   (Psalm 37:3-4)Now the focus of these verses is not on mere material things. The greatest gifts of God are the spiritual blessings He pours into our lives, with eternal life in Christ being the number one gift of them…