V.U.C.A.

Morning tea devotion given today

Its simple

I have just returned from the National Prayer Breakfast in Canberra.

Met the first Indigenous member of the House of Representative, Ken Wyatt, who talked about his faith journey… spoke from the heart… I talked with him about Uluru and he’s interested in coming along. Knew of Fusion from the mental health work done in Geraldton.

There is concern about the dramatic increase in indigenous kids committing suicide. Spoke of a mother and daughter driving past a tree and noticed something hanging from it… went back… it was a footballer whose girlfriend had just broken up with him and couldn’t see any other way forward in life… the mother held onto the boy… daughter tried to flag down help from passing cars… no-one stopped so they used a broken bottle to cut him down… saved his life.

On Sunday night, the guest speaker was an expert in spiritual warfare.

What pictures come to mind when you think of listening to an expert on spiritual warfare?

The speaker was the second in charge of our Defence Force, Lt General David Hurley.

He began by saying its been an incredible start to the year… sending troops to disasters… he’s the spokesman for Defence Force when another soldier in Afghanistan is killed…

Talks about spiritual warfare… there is a new acronym in the Force called VUCA.  They talk about battle spaces, no longer battle fields”.

The nature of warfare has changed… described as VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous.  Our world has changed.

Volatile – changing all the time;

Uncertain – no rules or predictability

Complex – multitude of things happening all at once

Ambiguous – never really clear which way is forward.

Christians are also fighting three battle fronts at once –

-       Social – values of the kingdom different from values of society.

-       Selves – we want to do the right thing, but do the wrong thing

-       Spiritual – fighting against principalities and powers.

There was a time when the world was a bit more predictable… could trust a policeman, could walk safely down the street…. the rules have changed and its not clear anymore.

As a Christian, how do we sustain life?

In the Army if a soldier finds himself lost, he turns to his instructions.

The Christians it’s the Bible.

The Bible and through Jesus turn all this on its head.

Instead of being volatile, we have stability – God is the beginning and the end

Instead of uncertainty, there is certainty – nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

Instead of complexity, there is simplicity – we are justified by faith and have peace through Jesus… we can boast in the hope of glory of God.

Instead of ambiguity, we have absolute clarity – Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, on-one comes to the Father but through me.

In the VUCA world we have clarity.  We are in a battle… part of Devils battle plan is to make it complicated.

Its simple, its Jesus

In the Village, its often complicated, people we live with are complicated, we are complicated.

If the Village and Fusion is meant to be, then its just about Jesus.  Being free enough to let Jesus do his job.