Where will you find God?

From the lenten pilgrimage by Christian Aid....

Now there was great roar and a violent explosion
that split buildings and broke houses,
but God was not in the explosion;
then came the earthquake,
tearing down what once was built,
but God was not in the earthquake;
and after the earthquake came the fire,
but God was not in the fire.

And after the fire came rage and anger
and cries for vengeance,
but God was not in the hatred.

Then came the sound of sheer silence.
And when we looked, God was there.
Tending the sick,
bringing hope to the broken,
feeding the hungry and the desolate.

Based on 1 Kings 19: 11-13

Photo from BBC along with this text:
"My cousin is building a room here, just with bricks," says Helmi. "He's not using cement, just soil, because there is no cement to buy."

Israel is preventing building materials from entering Gaza under its blockade of the territory, saying they could be used by militant groups to manufacture weapons and sites to launch them from.

Fired up

I was quite shocked to see how long it had been since I last posted something - but I have been away and on top of that I am lacking inspiration.

But one thing does spring to mind today. At church this morning it was communion and the minister led a really lovely service. Hi sermon focused on taking time to work out what God wants of us and he reminded us of our promise to serve. He used the analogy of a steam train and how it needs grease for the wheels, wheels to move and coal to stock the fire and glow. I loved the image of being fired up for Christ. The minister was certainly fired up and glowing today.

I have been feeling quite fired up myself lately but I know I am not always like that. There are times that I want to hide from God and not be his visible presence. But I know that there is no hiding and what I should be doing is finding ways to keep my fire glowing.

One thing that is helping is the lenten journey that Christian Aid have put together - a Journey to Jerusalem that you can do on line. For someone who is an internet addict this is ideal!