Poem #6 – Euston Station – 13.12.06 – 14.30pm

It’s early afternoon. It’s the middle of winter. Sipping from the tall can he just sits and watches. London is a funny place, he thinks. It is awe-inspiring. It is full of history and potential. It is dangerous but adventurous. It is the frontline for ideas, styles, community-shaping movements, art scenes, fashions and trends. He sits there in the midst of it all at Euston Station and he loves it. Commuters, families, couples, business people, Railway workers, Taxi drivers, florists, dodgy dealers and the homeless. They’ve all passed him in the last quarter of hour. If he didn’t have somewhere to be he could have sat and watched them go by all day long. He takes another mouthful. He feels a compassion for each individual that walks by. Some look flustered. Some look sad. Some look calm. Some greet each other warmly, others look at him like they want to knock him out. He ponders for a moment. How many of these people know what he knows? How many have met their creator and know His voice? And almost as importantly, how many of them know their enemy?

How would he describe this monster to them? Are there eye-opening words powerful enough to convey the damage that this fallen thing can cause? Words don’t do justice when characterising his Saviour, but they probably will do for the Evil One. Maybe one day he’ll have the courage to stand before such people and proclaim these facts more openly, but for now, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the tattered grey notebook that holds his thoughts for him.

He’s the uncomfortable chill on the back of your neck.
He’s the white noise that pierces your ears.
He’s the stranger who stares at you menacingly.
He’s the heart-thudding, cold sweat you wake up to in the middle of night.
He’s the alcohol-nicotine breath that stings the crowded air.
He’s a burnt out flame. The crushed flowers in the gutter.
He’s cold on cold and heat upon heat.
He’s jaw dropping, heart wrenching, stomach-in-mouth reality.
He can be defeated and absent from your future’s future.

But from time to time, he’s still life’s calamity.

His train isn’t due for another five minutes. So he goes back to slurping cider and the daydreaming.

If only they all knew.

In His hands.

I'm doing some decorating in a block of flats this week. It's only a few floors up but the view across south London is pretty cool. As I was getting on with work today, it was good to just glance out at the view every so often, particularly as I was standing on the window ledge for quite long periods of this afternoon!

Ipod blaring, dust cascading and mind racing, I couldn't help but appreciate the sheer scale of this place; both the geography and population of it. From the tower blocks on the nearby estate to the high rises of Canary Wharf in the far background, my mind was in overdrive just imagining the huge demographic of lives being lived out between those two sites. From the academic to the criminal; business man to prostitute; addict to accountant; mother to lonely widower - they're all represented somewhere out there. There are probably millions of people going about life between those two tower blocks.

And I was wondering: How many of them realise that God loves them? Not like a bumper sticker slogan, but an actual, tangible, real, life-changing love.

The capital would be an even more exciting place to live if they all took that truth to be their reality.

Poem #19 – penned 18.07.2007 – midday

First and last born king. The breath that blew stars out of His hand like dust. A love that filled the oceans with His tears. The Global Illustrator and hand-painter creator. Gospel editor, narrator and protagonist. The incomprehensible best friend. The prophet’s most vivid dream. Leader of the advancing army. The broken and the meak’s lifetime victory. The close presence. The Pilgrim’s guidance. The dance of the inextinguishable flame. Wisdom’s full understanding.

Grace’s Lamb and Mercy’s Lion.

It's priceless yet probably remains dusty on most bookshelves.

Been chatting to someone a lot this week. Been really enjoying it too. Turns out he hasn't been reading his Bible as much as he should have been recently. That's all about to change though. A Bible has now been downloaded onto the Blackberry; a challenge to begin reading through the book of Acts laid down and willingly accepted. It'll do us both good and I canny wait to chat through it with him. I guarantee it comes alive before his very eyes again.

When was the last time you picked up a Bible? Maybe you devour it every morning with your Cocopops. Or maybe it needs dusting off and carefully opened for the first time this century.

Lets just contemplate it for a second. This book's final entry was written a couple of thousand years ago. And yet it can, without equal, still show its relevance in any circumstance culture throws at it today. It contains hundreds of prophesies that came to pass throughout it's pages. It talks of creation, angels, war, sex, murder, betrayal, love, hope, demons and resurrection (to name but a few). It always has been, and lets face it, always will be, the all time international best-seller. It is adored by many. Ignored by many. Treasured by many. Laughed at by many. But regardless of all these things - it was written by GOD! He breathed it's content into being and promised us that it would always be profitable to our lives if we spent time engaging in the challenges it lays down.


Why on earth would you not at least wanna give it a chance if you never have before!?

And if you profess to believe in it's protagonist and live by it's laws daily, why would you not choose to bury your head in it every single day of your life!?!? It's absolutely stunning.

It will change your life. Just like it would have done the hundreds who died trying to write it.

This morning I saw a young lady leave a folder on the top of the ticket kiosk at the station. I was some way off, but I saw her put it down, and I watched her walk off without it. She may have run back a few minutes later, once she had realised her mistake, but I don't think she did. I don't know why I didn't jog after her. By the time I had realised I had been an idiot, she had gone through the barriers and disappeared into the sea of commuters. I hope her day wasn't ruined by it though.

Anyway, about 15 minutes later, there I was, sat on the Bakerloo line, when on came an elderly lady. I dunno whether I was trying to make up for my earlier folly, but I offered her my seat. She was more than happy to acquiesce.

Some would say that was a 'good deed'. Others would think a life filled with such works would be good enough for Heaven. A nice fluffy cloud and a harp awaits the lucky person who's 'good' deeds outweigh the bad ones, at the end of play. Like it's all held in some kind of supernatural balance or something.

Afraid not chums. It doesn't work that way unfortunately. If it was down to good stuff like giving up a seat to an old woman or walking a blind bloke across the street, then that would suggest that we could earn our passage through those pearly gates.

There is nothing we can do to earn that. Nothing whatsoever. What accumulation of good deeds could possibly suppress a lifetime of sin and God-dodging?

We'd all be idiots if we thought an everyday, human effort could achieve this for us. Maybe you don't give a monkeys about Heaven of Hell. Or maybe you're desperately worried about the outcome of this all. But we all need to rest assured with the fact that Jesus paved the way. Pure and simple. Keep on giving generously and speaking positively about one another; but don't think it'll get you very far if it isn't done in Jesus' name and for His glory alone.



I hope someone ran after her to return the folder.

Washed...

Last night something amazing happened. Really amazing actually. I stood at the back of the room, with a lump in my throat as I watched a group of lads, in their mid-teens watching this video.




At the end, they were asked to show their response in a powerful way. Did what they just watch leave them broken inside? Did it make them want to stand up and be counted? In the Bible, it says that Christians are to 'believe and be baptised'.Do those two things and your up to speed with the basics. As you can see in the clip, one side of the deal involved a serious commitment from one individual. Absolutely everything was laid aside as part of His offering to the situation. Our side of the coin, however, simply requires us to believe in that one man's sacrifice and be baptised, to signify that we are born again into this new life with Him, and to visually show that we have been washed clean of past sins, present woes and future transgressions. Seems like an unfair deal doesn't it!? We get off lightly compared to the beating and torture that that bloke endured.

Well, some of these lads last night thought so too. Laying peer-pressure and doubt aside they rose to the call. "If you want to be baptised in the name of this man, then step forward to the line. If you want to nail your colours to the mast and take a stand once and for all for what you believe in, then make it known now."

5 of them did. It's the best decision they will ever make. Trust me.

Poem #26 – penned 02/06/08 – 1.40am

It’s another late night and spiritually speaking he’s a couple of hundred miles away from normality and easy living. The room is cool but still, most people will be enjoying sleep by now, but not him. The noise of the day has subsided everywhere around apart from inside his own head. Turmoil. Crashing waves. Drumbeats. Warlike chanting. This is what he has signed up for now. His name’s on the list; its been carved in. It would have been much easier not to have signed up. It would have been far safer to have turned a blind eye to the innocent man’s sacrifice; to have just continued enjoying himself without a care in the world. But he has got a care for the world now. It won’t budge.

Strangers that he shouldn’t give two hoots about are now Kingdom opportunities. Friends and family walking on a different path to his will now leave his heart in knots; and all because his own sinful little eyes have been chosen and opened. This passion could drive a man insane – it probably has done many times over the centuries. And even a decade ago he would have thought this was all just dusty and outmoded; something for old women that would stifle and hold him back from real life, here and now, fun. Not the case.

His mind bends when he weighs up the potential each day could hold. The promises of something far greater than he are now his purpose. ‘His promise, my purpose’, he thinks. That has a ring to it. So he jots it down to make sure it is remembered. He doesn’t stop there; there is more to be written on this tonight. So he goes on.


Be still and know that I am the Lord, and find strength against your enemy, the voices this world believe to be unheard.
No matter what, through lashes, thorns and nails, this love endured.
No science or religion but all sin sickness forever cured.
Come to me my children, the weary and heavy laden, against my Father’s wrath, my stripes paid for them.
So be rested and blessed in this mind bending stillness.
My love will show the answers to mind’s tricks and heart’s illness.


It seems funny to him how easy it is to sum it all up so simply. It should be a lot harder surely? Explaining the truth he himself has in his own life shouldn’t be possible, let alone the fact that it can be applied to centuries of faith before his even began. Promises secure.

whose legacy are you planning to inherit?

We all have an inheritance. We do, honest! It's freely available as well. It's watertight and doesn't involve paperwork, banks, or family squabbles. It's for everyone. The share is massive for each person and doesn't depreciate in value as times goes on. It's priceless too, financially speaking anyway. You can't buy it and it's not for sale. Although a price was paid for it originally. It came at a cost for one person. Someone had to die in order that this inheritance would come alive.

I am talking about Jesus' legacy. The stuff dreams are made of and the material that miracles are woven from.

Jesus said that 'anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.' (John 14 v12-14, NIV)

So with that responsibility in mind, a group of us at Queens Road Church, Wimbledon, stand at the threshold of a new term. We've been spending the last little while trying to put that instruction into practise. We've had some big successes, and we've encountered a few minor hiccups as well. But a new season is upon us and we've got to get back to work on this.

Jesus performed miracles. He caused sight, strength and hearing to return to those who needed it. He opened up lives with prophetic words that cut straight to the cause of an issue. He united the discontent and isolated; the proud and the self-sufficient. He did all these things and much more. But then said: "Greater things will YOU now do."

Don’t sell out for a cheapened version of living, just because the world promotes it so well. Join the group of 18-25's @QRC who are willing to lay that aside as they continue reclaiming an amazing inheritance that is Jesus’ legacy

Declare it!

'Of course I'll marry you!'

'Well done Mr Bream, I'm happy to say you passed with just 3 minors. Drive carefully!'

'I now gladly baptise you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!'

'You may now kiss your bride!'

These are all exclamations I have heard in recent years passed. They all leave me fired up when I think back to those precise moments. They leave me excited. They leave me wanting more moments like them. They are all very hopeful expressions. You might have your own moments memorised that serve as a character-shaping milestone for who you are today. For the person you have become. I could list more of my own, but this clip below contains some far more amazing exclamations. A set of declarations far more bone-shaking, heart-stopping, jaw-dropping and life-explaining than anything else.

You might have seen this a hundred times before. Or perhaps never prior to this moment. But this could be the marker for when the penny dropped.

A pretty big victory...

Today is the 27th of August, in case you didn't know. The weather is crap. West Ham are bottom of the Premier League again. I'm staring at a pile of washing up that isn't getting any smaller, and I'm wondering how best to spend the last day of the summer holidays?!?!

Just a normal day, you might think.

For the most part it is.

But 16 years ago on the 27th August, my Dad finally got on the wagon, so to speak. I wanted to comment on this massive milestone, but just before I opened this blog, I received an email from him. I'll let him do the talking instead.

Morning all,

I was listening to a Jesus Culture album on my way to work this morning. The lyrics say something like: 'the chasm was far too wide, I never thought I'd make it to the other side, but your love never fails'. Sixteen years ago today, I finally gave up drinking after 25 years of drinking unhealthily, the last ten years being particularly chaotic and destructive. I never thought that I would be able to stop and believed that I would soon die, drunk and alone.

But God had other plans.

I now know that He was with me always. When I finally looked into an abyss of darkness and despair, when I had nothing left of my own to fight with and was beaten and broken, He gave me the strength to not only confront my demons, but to make them history (or His Story?).

The song ends with a paraphrase of Romans 8 v28: 'You make all things work together for my good'. This is the truth. Not the little voice in my head that told me I would never amount to anything or be good enough for Him.

Have a great day everyone. Apparently the sun will shine later.

Malcolm.

Disappointing...

I'm kicking myself. I'm all mouth, I really am. Here I am on this blog, banging on about how great God is. How amazing a new life with Jesus is. But at the moment, I kinda feel like I'm hiding behind the pen a bit with it all. A bit of a sell out.

Yesterday, I briefly dropped in on my Aunt and Uncle. My Uncle was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer a little while ago, and as he sat beside me, filling us in on where he's at with treatment, bringing us up to speed with the recent events and informing us of a recently uncompleted operation, I had one thought in mind:

Offer to pray for him, you idiot!!!!

The minutes passed by, the same pounding thought. Why on earth am I not offering to pray for this man!?!? I have seen some awesome healings in the past. Some occurring only days ago in fact. I believe with one hundred percent certainty that the God who created everything, is the God who can heal everything too. I've heard first hand accounts, some only last week, of deaf people receiving full hearing and blind their vision and yet here is a family member who I care about a lot, clearly in need of prayer. And I bottled it. I got scared.

And I am so sorry that I did. I had the chance to put faith into action and I let the moment pass.

So...let this be a lesson to me. It's all well and good blogging about this stuff. But if I really want to make an impact on those around me, writing airy-fairy paragraphs is not going to cut it. If I love this Jesus as much as I say on here...I shouldn't be allowing those kind of circumstances go by without prayer.

I hope I rise to the challenge next time.

Yesterday marked the end of an era - a 12 month project working at my church (www.qrc.org.uk) has been and gone. It wasn't easy. It was draining. Sometimes is was slow. Sometimes it was manic. I had to exercise a lot of faith that the finances would be taken care of throughout the year. They were. I had to trust that this was exactly where God wanted me to be. It was.

Though generally speaking, the project is undertaken as a gap year by most, this was anything but a gap year for me personally. I am 25 with a couple of gap years behind me already after all. I was taking a step of faith in a new direction. Full-time church work is not a doss, regardless of the casual coffee breaks and laid back environment. It's emotionally draining if you do manage to get your heart fully behind it. It comes with a weighty responsibility. The pay sucks. And things don't exactly land on a plate in front of you - much prayer, consideration and hope is pinned on what happens.

So, as I look back on a pretty fruitful, fairly busy, lesson-packed and thoughtful 12 months as the resident FP-er at QRC, I can, with hand on heart, confirm that it was worth it!

I have grown throughout it. I have been tested by it. I have cried for it. I have laughed at it. I have been fed up with it. I have been passionately hungry for it.

And it was worth it.

I'm no longer working full-time at Queens Road Church, Wimbledon...but who am I to assume that the post-FP Impact year wont be more of a kingdom building year than this one?!?!?

The next chapter could be huge!

a generation IS rising...

I'm tired, grubby, without clean clothes and have stacks of post-camping chores to get ticked off the list(s). It has been a few weeks of spreadsheets, consent letters, CRB forms, and general planning as the countdown for Newday 2010 continued rapidly in earnest - and now it has been and gone in a flash.

6,500 delegates aged from 12-19, representing dozens and dozens of churches nationwide. If stats suggest church attendance is on the decline, try telling that to this lot. Aside from the culture-challenging, norm-breaking, relationship-building, stereotype-shattering events of the last 6 days, I've witnessed hundreds (literally) of lives change - some significantly, others gradually. A deaf kid had his hearing restored. A girl, blind in one eye, received full vision. Skin conditions cleared up instantly. And hearts were remoulded for eternity.

It aint fake. It isn't magic. It is happening everywhere and thousands of young faces shine that little bit brighter now because of it...

check out these links -

http://www.newdaygeneration.org/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/norfolk/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_8921000/8921083.stm

More?

I saw this article today: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10852783

It’s amazing. It gets me excited. It makes me want to get off this bloomin’ sofa. I don’t know whether this guy knows God or not. But one thing I know for sure, he’s experienced some serious adrenalin and adventure.

As one wise friend said recently: ‘If our lives look normal to those around us, we’re doing something wrong.’ I reckon this explorer bloke would agree with that. But if he knows Jesus, this exhilarating journey was just the tip of the iceberg. If he doesn’t, this is probably about as good as it will get.

We’re all fools if we neglect to see any adventure. But we’re even bigger fools if we ignore that there’s a greater adventure freely available to us. Don’t be mistaken in thinking it will restrict and confine - it will make this guy’s little journey look like a walk in the park.

Which backdrop do we paint on?

Yet another week in Cornwall under the belt. That makes it the 3rd trip so far this year. Just cant get enough of the place. Blustery walks that blow the cobwebs to pieces and fill your lungs with the freshest air ever. Early mornings spent diving through crashing waves, desperately trying to perfect the timing so that the next one lifts me off my feet and sends me hurtling horizontally along, parallel to the shore. Cold cliff top beers and piping hot pasties. I could go on, but I'd probably just ditch this laptop and jump straight back in the car.

At the top of the beach there's a place called Tube Station. The skate-park-coffee-lounge-art-gallery-internet-caff-chill-out-bar-church overlooking the bay. It's like a haven. Comfy sofas, surf life everywhere, laid back tunes; brilliant ambience. I love going there. It's what it should look like. It's innovative. It's forward thinking. It has met the surrounding culture perfectly and has set itself up in the heart of that community in such a resourceful and radical way. It's open-door policy during the week sees the building full almost all-day, everyday.

If you're ever down there, check them out. If not, don't worry; just remember there are places like it. The reason I comment on it is as much a reminder for myself as for anyone else: God is on the move. And He's creating churches like Tube Station all over the place, showing that He really has got His hand on this place. The backdrop for that church is pounding, relentless, rolling waves and a killer sunset.

He created those too.

Visit www.tubestation.org