For those who think we're a tad nutty

When I first put this blog together, it was written with the intent of asking our Christian friends around the world to pray for Will and for us. We didn't know how serious the problem was at that stage and so realised we were totally in Gods hands. As mentioned earlier, we gave Will his name as we believe that whatever happened with him was Gods Will. We believe God exists, we believe God cares for us individually, and we believe God wants us lay our needs before him, so this was a pretty obvious thing for us to do. However, this blog pretty quickly became the primary communication source for all of our friends, colleages and other interested parties (regardless of religion). When it became clear that this was the case, I was tempted to "tone it down a bit" so that our non-Christian friends reading didn't think me nuts, too full on etc. However, I resisted this temptation. Many of our Christian friends have also resisted this temptation while posting many gracious, and prayerful comments. So, I am aware that there are many people reading this blog who, while very interested in and supportive of our family, think that we're (aka broader Christian community) a tad weird, or over the top when it comes to our faith. I had thought of trying to offer a clear description of why we have such faith. To give an overview of why I believe. Why I believe Jesus existed, why I believe he is who he claimed to be, why I believe in the amazing free gift of salvation he has given us and why I believe we need that salvation. However, I'm not much of a writer, so was struggling how to do this. My task was made a bit easier this Sunday. I went to church and our pastor (Brett Hilliard) gave an absolute corker (v. good for the non Australian readers) of a sermon. Its based on John 11:1-44, the story of Jesus raising Lazerous to life after being dead for 4 days. In this sermon, Brett gives an excellent description of why we can trust the authenticity of this story. The text as written (shortly after the death of Jesus) records many very specific facts that could have been easily refuted - but were not. Given the Jews and the Romans both tried desparately to discredit the story of Jesus this would have been a pretty easy target for them. However, they were never able to. This is not the main point of the sermon, however, if you have questions as to the authenticity of the Bible, listen to this sermon. Secondly, (and this relates very much to this blog), Brett gives an excellent review about how the text describes Jesus interacting with and caring for his friends in their suffering. The family of Lazerous (his sisters Mary and Martha) were suffering terribly after the loss of their brother. When Jesus arrived, he grieved with them (see the very short verse John 11:35 "Jesus Wept"). Why did he do this, when he knew that he would raise Lazerous from the dead? Why didn't he turn up earlier and stop the suffering? The answer? Too long to type here, but let me encourage you that if you are wondering about why God allows suffering, why he wants us to pray, his desired relationship to us, how he cares for us, etc. read John 11, then listen to this sermon.The Most Important Lesson Not wanting to steal Brett's thunder in the sermon, but his conclusion is that "God is God, and we are not". I have learnt this lesson very clearly thanks to the recent events. God is a great teacher. I very much encourage you all to read this passage then to listen to this sermon.