Praise God For Sandpaper

"Character is what you are when no one else is looking....." "Iron sharpens iron….." "Its character-building..." All these things are very true. And flippin’ hard!

I can’t help thinking that life is part of a process. Granted, belief in a sovereign providentual personal Father God theologically ticks the right boxes of the rather commonly used saying "everything happens for a reason." However, various things have occurred that make me think that this isn't just fate or randomness, and whilst its encouraging that God is reassuring me it doesn’t make the whole experience any easier.

I spent part of the day praying through Psalm 116. (I love Psalms. So much so that I thoroughly enjoyed talking about them with Deej last night.) I love prayer. I might even post a file of my recent sermon on it in my blog, should anyone express an interest. Also, I love the way God speaks so timely through scripture. This particular Psalm talks about God as my shield and my help, my gracious and righteous rescuer. But a couple of verses impacted me in another way:

Psa 116:15-16 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.

It could be about martyrdom. But could it also mean our own death – our death to self? Our sacrifice, our laying down of dreams, desires, wants and opinions? Didn’t Jesus say “whoever wants his life must lose it?”

Can the pot say to the potter “you don't know what you are doing?” Should I, as a servant, kick back against the Master because I’m having a tantrum? If he has led me down a path of testing, it is for my own good ultimately. But more importantly, for his glory.

I’ve been thinking about the Parable of the Talents, and the message of that tale. There are many things in that story, but one thing resonates with me especially so. I need to invest what God has invested in me, no matter what that is. That works interestingly alongside our trials. Trials are a process, part of refining, a shaping. So how are trials and talents related? I’m beginning to wonder that if I have one, three or five talent gifting, God wants me to have one, three or five talent character as well to invest it. Or as Paul says “taking hold of that Christ Jesus took hold of me for.”

On other news, I had the joy of speaking to a call centre. Now, I have nothing against Indians. But I do have things against people who talk too fast, unintelligibly, and who ask repetitive questions despite you already telling them what they want to know a sentence previously. I’d feel this way whether I was speaking with an Englishman, an American or an Australian. I get this a lot when I speak to Helen, so I’m used to it.

This person at the end of the phone introduced herself as ‘Josephine.’ Now, I may be wrong here but it seems unlikely that is her real name. Let’s pretend it isn’t – why would she give me a pseudonym? Lets look at the facts here – she is employed by a company whom I use for a service. Service fails, I call, Josephine answers. Now, having had to A) call another continent; B) work through a computerised automated menu; C) answer security questions; and D) speak with someone I don’t understand at all, is it any wonder I feel slightly perturbed?

However, lets be rational here. No matter how much my rage simmers and builds and throbs, it is exceptionally unlikely I am going to book an airline ticket through more evil automated systems, drive to an airport, endure the indignity of Customs, risk deep vein thrombosis on a plane whilst fly to the Indian Subcontinent, land in one of the most populous nations of the world, and proceed to track down someone who I have no idea what she looks like or where she works just to get something off my chest. And all I have to go on is a pseudonym.

So why the false name? It’s just treating me, the customer, in a patronising and insulting way. So I’m going to do one of my infamous complaints. Because I can’t fly just yet, its monsoon season apparently….