Oh looky...I'm back...!! We'll see how long it lasts or even if anyone reads this but to give some idea of my motivation to get back on the blog, the quote below is something I rwad the other day which basically sums up a challenge I've been feelung for a little while...and I guess also a dissatisfaction with my general all too apathetic attitude...but also a frustration with feeling alone in wanting to fight for more...I'm well aware of needing to take the plank out of my own eye: but I also want the church (as in God's people) to rise up and fight, and to help me as I try! Guess for various reasons I'm not feeling that right now...but the below helped and if anyone's reading this I hope it encourages you too...let me know, it's good to be encouraged... "The call to integrity comes with the greatest force as I understand my accountability to God himself. I need to be careful here, for it would be a mistake to suggest that I serve God with fear, that I imagine him to be the great employer, the ultimate taxman. No, my accountability to God arises from my status as his child, and as a person redeemed by his grace to serve him freely and wholeheartedly. True, I am also accountable - as are all men and women - as a person created by him and morally responsinle to him. But my sense of accountability and therefire my Christian service is especially shaped by my response to his gracious call. This makes a huge difference to me. When i am tempted to become casual in my work or attitudes or to behave in ways which do not commend Christ I am cheapening the grace of God... We are secure if we build our lives on him. But there is more to be said. The question remains, how will we build on that foundation? Will we build with those things which are short lived ... or will we build with those things which are of lasting value...? One day the quality of our building work will be tested, and on that day will it survive or will it disappear in a cloud of smoke? The point is clear: how you build matters:how you live your life counts... That judgement day for Christians is not intended to cloud our hope or dampen our joy at the prospect of being with Christ. Rather, it is there as a stimulus to faithful service, a reminder of our obligation to live for Christ, to live our lives under his control and direction. How do I use my time and gifts, my resources and the many God given opportunities? All these things matter...in the light of the future. Will we look back on our lives and see that we have built only things that are temporary or will we have built something that will last, something for eternity? So it is a stimulus to faithful service, a call to be wholehearted in living for the values of God's kingdom, not building for personal and therefore temporary gain." Jonathan Lamb