We are so privileged to live within driving distance of some of the most beautiful countryside. We are busy people though, and carving out time to enjoy them requires precision planning sometimes. The lead up to Christmas is one of the most busy times with both Sue and I involved in organising events at church, and the kids both involved in extra activities.

It was a real blessing, therefore, to be able to carve out a whole day on Christmas Eve and to be able to get up to the Lake District. Leaving from Preston the weather looked like it might not be the best for walking, it was foggy. As we drove north the fog got thicker and the temperatures got lower. Being British though we carried on regardless. It’s one of the traits of our national heritage that once we start something we see it through to the end, no matter what the consequences. Climbing out of Kendal though it all changed. We moved above the fog into a glorious crisp sunny winters day. It was like springing from one day into a completely different day in less time than it took to say “wow”.

We had already set our sites on walking around Rydal Water where we were to explore the caves and enjoy the peace of the lake itself. Rydal Water sits in a basin between a number of different hills and is regularly flat calm. We weren’t disappointed. The sun shining on the brown colours and the flat calm lake made for a view that took our breath away; the cold air adding to the experience.

Jonathan had taken some climbing rope with him which helped us to get into most of the caves even though it was quite icy. The caves are man made, resulting from iron ore mining and are vast spaces.

It was a great day which we finished off with a late lunch in Ambleside.

Some people have the ability to capture the sense of a place, its peace, its beauty, its tranquility, its connectedness, I don’t but I hope the picture give you a sense of a glorious day.

There are things in life which are done which are routine; there are other things from which we build memories that live with us and make us who we are. For some reason it’s not the routine that builds the memories but the extraordinary, the things outside of the routine. Our walk around Rydal will be a memory that we will take with us.

How dull it would be to live each day completely in today, no looking forward and no looking back. But just having one of the perspectives would be equally problematic. Imagine not having any forward view, nothing would ever get done, things would always be a surprise, they would often be a shock. For most of us it would mean that we would never do anything because we would have no motivation to do it; why bother. Having no history would be equally troubling; how would we be able to perceive the likely future if we had nothing to reference it to. Imagine watching children grow up without being able to reference our own childhood and how we felt.

It goes even further than that though, some people are dominated by their history or by their future. This dominance blinds them to see today, the future or the past overshadows all.

How we travel time has a huge impact on who we are.

Yesterday someone posted a set of aerial pictures of Preston, Lancashire where I live to Flickr. These pictures were all from the 1950’s and showed a town that is similar in structure to the town I know, but it has gone through many changes. For one thing Preston has become a city but it’s more physical than that. The railway sidings that used to dominate the area around the railway station are no longer there. The old football ground has been completely replaced with a new one. The docks area is still an active dock, rather than the leisure and housing area it is today. The bus station which they are currently contemplating knocking down doesn’t even exist. There are a lot more chimneys. 

Seeing these pictures gave me another perspective on my city, not only because they were taken from an angle that you wouldn’t normally see, but also because they are more than 50 years old. They allowed me to travel through time to a time before I was born. They allowed me to realise that changing the bus station wasn’t such a big deal because it hadn’t been there that long anyway. They allowed me to travel from the past, through the now into the future.

Time travel is a marvelous thing.

I love to time travel in my personal life too. Like most parents I look at my children and see them changing almost every day. I love to remember carrying them on my arm when they were tiny. I love to remember them going to school for the first time or riding their bike for the first time. I look at their life and compare it to my own experiences. I use these experiences to imagine a future for them; a future that looks OK because they are great kids. It could all go horribly wrong, but that’s not what I imagine. I see them riding their bikes today and imagine them driving a car tomorrow. I see them doing tests today and imagine them doing exams tomorrow.

Time travel can be very informative.

Yesterday I wrote the traditional family letter letting all of those people who we only meet occasionally in on our year. As preparation I looked through the photographs we have taken over the year (it’s much easier with digital pictures). It was great to look through all of these pictures and be reminded of the things we have done. There’s a picture of us all swimming in a lake; there’s a picture of Jonathan and I flying up into the sky at a Theme Park; there’s a picture of Sue and Emily hugging at New Year. I use these memories to imagine the adventures that we already have planned for next year, but also to imagine new adventures that we might not do for many a year.

There are a thousand more memories and another thousand future plans spinning around my head right now as a write. In the midst of it all are a number silver threads that binds the future and the past together, silver threads of relationships. Relationships with Sue, Jonathan and Emily; relationships with friends; relationships with other family members; and most importantly a relationship with a Father God. Each of these relationships has a history and a future that gives me a context for today. I know that my future is assured and taken care of. That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to see heartache but it does mean that ultimately it will all be resolved. At the end of my life there is another life to come, on that I can be assured.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing–nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable–absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Romans 8

‘Living Redeemer’ – “What kind of language is that? What is Graham going on about today?”

Give me 30 seconds and let me explain.

It’s actually not that difficult a thing to understand.

I hope all of us understand the ‘living’ part, but what about this ‘redeemer’ part. All of us have received a voucher or a token in our time – “50p of your next purchase of smelly stuff that you don’t really need”, “£10 Book Token”. When we take advantage of these offers we call it redeeming. It make sense, then, that the person who is doing the redeeming is a redeemer. So putting the two things back together we get a person who redeems things who is alive. But what does that mean to me? What difference does it make to my life?

As a Christian I believe that Jesus is my Living Redeemer. In other words I believe that Jesus has handed in the token and redeemed the offer on my life. This is no ‘spend a load to get completely irrelevant and worthless in return’ offer though; this is the real deal. Jesus did indeed pay a huge price. When He died on the cross He paid with His life in the most horrible way. The reward for this price was my life, and the life of millions of other believers.

What does it mean to have a life that has been bought and payed for? Does that make me a slave? No, amazingly it makes me a son; a son of God. Son’s have rights, but they also have responsibilities. As a son of God the rights are fabulous, I get access to the Father. There isn’t anything like enough room to fully explain what that means here, I may write more about it another time, actually I could probably write forever and still have things to say. To explain a little though I have a Father who knows and understands; I have a Father who can and does; I have a Father who gives me freedom; I have a Father who is infinite grace; I have a father who loves me. Compared to this the responsibilities are small; they are simple to share the love that is given, that’s all. Part of my reason for writing is to share some of the love with you.

You are our Father. Abraham and Israel are long dead. They wouldn’t know us from Adam. But you’re our living Father, our Redeemer, famous from eternity!

Isaiah 63:16 (The Message)