The paradox and the promise

This Friday at Youth Discipleship we started our series looking at the Sermon on the Mount. We began with the beatitudes, a very eye-opening look at the value Jesus places on certain 'attitudes' in the Kingdom of God that in this world are not celebrated.
Jesus said "blessed" (happy, fortunate, blissful) are; those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers and  persecuted. That doesn't necessarily sound like a list of 'blessings' as we usually understand them, right? It takes a special kind of person to look on their mournful circumstances, or during persecution, and really feel the blessing-hence the 'paradox'. The 'promise' is found as the result of enduring through these blessed circumstances; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, for they shall be comforted, they shall inherit the earth, they shall be satisfied, they shall receive mercy, they shall see God, they shall be called sons of God, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Now that sounds like a list of things I want to be blessed with!!
That's the problem with me; I want all the good stuff and I'd like to avoid anything difficult please! But that's just not how God's Kingdom works. Over here in Switzerland we've been taking advantage of the Alps in winter, the ski lifts take you high up to the top of the mountain where the views are incredible, stunning. But somehow, it's not quite the same as when you've struggled up a mountainside for hours, being disgruntled by the 'false peaks', stopping now and then for a breather and, as a last resort, singing songs or playing games to take your mind off the pain in your legs and the burning in your chest! When you come over the last hill and reach the summit and you glimpse the view for the first time....that's an awesome feeling. I think that may be what Jesus is getting at here in the beatitudes. You want to enjoy The Kingdom of God to the full? You got to go His way...no shortcuts, because that's where the true blessings are.
Right, now to try and put this into practice....yikes!

Si and Jaz's visit

We just had a lovely week with my big bro and his gorgeous wife, Jaz. We had some  wonderful sunshiney weather for the whole week!
We showed them around our beautiful homeland and taught them to ski! (With what snow was left to find!) Obviously, we had a meal at The Skipper too! Jaz and I also had a lovely shopping exploration around Lausanne while the boys got in every minute of precious skiing time they could. They came to both services on Sunday and met our closest friends here; it's really nice to know that now they can put faces to names of those we talk about here. Thanks guys for a great time, it rained the day after you left...did you take the sunshine with you??!!

Crepes a la maison for breakfast!!

View from the lake at Morges

yes Si, roller blading is socially acceptable here at all ages!

Skimming stones at sunset

Jaz's creative photography

Si and Jaz at the Skipper

Oh Si......

It was hot on the slopes that day!

The view from the top!

A brief stop for lunch before more skiing!

Fun on the lake

A Prayer update

Thank you for praying for us, please continue!
Please pray for Mark, he is just starting to study again -a distance learning course from WEST (Wales Evangelical School of Theology)
Your prayers are so valuable to us as we minister here!

Church News!

Life here at Westlake church Lausanne just got a bit more exciting this past Sunday as we had our very first Sunday evening service! The morning service has been growing for some time and we felt that adding a second service would allow us to grow more without comlpetely outgrowing our current venue. The second service is lead 'up-front' by the 20's and 30's homegroup of which we are a part and great friends with! It has a more informal feel and a less traditional structure with one of our aims being to reach those who are 'unchurched' or new to the faith. It is also a wonderful opportunity to spend another couple of hours at the beginning of the week worshipping God and hearing the truth of His Word. We had a great time of worship, fellowship and teaching followed by a question and answers section. We also had a large number of French speakers who came too.We would ask that those committed to praying for us out here would add this second service to your prayers. Pray that God is glorified, that people come to know the truth of the gospel, that people are fed as they get rooted and grounded in the Word. Praise God!

"Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labour in vain." Psalm 127v1