Each year, Evangelical churches from Brittany organise a day of ministry and fellowship in the small town of Pontivy. A speaker is invited, and about 300 people attend. This year’s theme was “suffering” and the speaker was an Englishman called Gordon Margery, who ministered in Brittany for many years before moving in another part of France. It was a good day. It didn’t rain and the children enjoyed it. Most of the Guingamp church had come along and we had a good time seeing friends.
This morning, I was in Lanvollon for the market. It’s a small town with a small market. We’ve had a few good conversations there in the past.
As I was standing with our little trolley, a man approached me. He first said he had tried to read the Bible but was never able to finish it. He added that he had to swear on the Bible when he was induced in a masonic lodge many years ago. We had an interesting chat. He was a very sad man. He was mourning the loss of his daughter and had also lost his wife. He said he was a Darwinist but seemed to be looking for hope by attending some spiritist meetings, going to see some mediums… he had also attended various occult movement and read a lot on the subject. I thought it was odd, and tried to point to him that Darwinism and believing in an afterlife were contradictory but he didn’t seem to catch what I said. We talked for a while and he left with a tract.
It was sad. He clearly was hopeless, and was aware of it.
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[/amazon_link]I was recently given some books. One of them was [amazon_link id=”0875526004″ target=”_parent” container=”” container_class=”” ]”When people are BIG and God is small” by Edward T Welch[/amazon_link]. The title caught my attention. It starts with an observation: the fear of man is a recurrent problem. The fear of man can take different shapes and names: codependency, peer-pressure, people-pleasing… the author gives a powerful diagnostic of one of our basic problems: we put people higher than we should. He also highlights why we fear others. At the end of the day, the fear of man is a form of idolatry where we put other men above God.
What’s the proper cure for the fear of man? To learn to fear God. We must meditate on God and His character. He is much more powerful and loving than we realize. We must also understand that our basic needs are physiological and spiritual but not psychological. The idea that human beings have also some basic psychological needs is not found in Scripture. For example, it’s not so much that we “need” to be loved. In fact, we want to be loved. There’s a difference between needing something and wanting it. If there’s one thing we need it’s probably to show more love rather than wait to receive more.
It was a helpful read. I realized that many of my decisions and attitudes are often guided by the fear of man, rather than the fear of God. It is a practical book, grounded in Scriptures and with many real life examples. There’s plenty of helpful exercises that will helped me get the most of my reading. If you haven’t read it, get a copy. I am sure you will find it helpful.
FEU stands for “Foyer Evangélique Universitaire“. It is a student outreach. Unlike the GBUs, it is usually attached to a local church or several churches. In Chambéry, the FEU is attached to the church where I grew up and I used to attend it when I was a student here.
On Thursday night, I was invited to the FEU meeting to speak about my experience in the FEU 17 years ago, and to open the word briefly. It was great to be there. There were 14 of us. When I was a student, there were usually 2 or 3. I remember one year when there were more, but that was unusual. I talked about Isaiah 48: 1-11 and God’s purpose in everything he does, especially in salvation. The discussion that followed was interesting. It highlighted the difficulty we have as sinful human being to assign everything to God and His Glory. After the meeting we hanged around chatting and enjoying a drink. It was good to speak with a few of the students. I tried to answer their questions and show interest in their own studies and lives. It was a good time. I was grateful for the invitation.
We don’t live in a big city so we need a car to move around. We bought our Fiat Multipla 5 years ago, and it had already some mileage. It is 13 years old now, and still going well. But is is sometimes showing signs of ageing.
When we drove down last week, there was a strange feeling with the gear stick. Some of the gears were quite difficult to pass. I thought I’d have to have it checked when we get back home. Then, on Wednesday evening, as I was going out with Esther, The gears were very hard. We borrowed my mum’s car and I called a garage the next day. Two mechanics came, had a quick look at it and diagnosed a clutch problem. They took the car and said they would try to purge the clutch hydraulic system and see if the problem came from that. That’s what they did and it seems to do the trick. It should take us back to Brittany they said at the garage. But I think we’ll start looking at another car soon, just in case.
Glad to have the car back. Glad it didn’t happen on the motorway on the way back home. Glad that all the mechanics I have met so far have always been helpful and dedicated to their work.
We’re on holidays at my mum’s place in the Alps. It’s good to be there. The weather has been great so far, and very warm. There’s nos much planned appart from reading, relaxing and sorting things out. I am scanning old lecture notes and various articles onto the computer for reference. Tomorrow, I’ll be speaking at a Student outreach meeting and on Sunday, I’ll be preaching.