My Favourite Kind of Rejection

June 8, 2015 / davidgoundry / Leave a comment

Rom 8:28; “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

REJECTION!!! There are not many feelings that we have in our lives that hurt on such a deep level as the feeling of rejection. I would be surprised if there is a reader of this blog who has never experienced the sorrowful and lonely abandonment feeling that rejection produces. Whether it’s as ‘small’ as being the last kid picked at school for a sport, or as soul wrenching as being rejected by a loved one or by one whom you admire. The pain of rejection, put simply, hurts.

Most of the rejection that we encounter does not have a positive outcome, but every so often, when the grains of sand in our journey’s hour glass continue their flow, they reveal a greater purpose. Permit me to tell you such a story:

Earlier this year a ministry friend and I set off on what was planned to be a Vision Casting and Training trip for OneHope in the Balkans. The initial plan was to set off from Albania, head through Macedonia. We’d have our meetings in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. We had planned our ‘counter-clockwise’ route through the Balkans and set off as planned. After leaving Albania, traveling through Macedonia, we arrived at our border control check point. After a little ‘tense delay’ on the Macedonian side we arrived at the Serbian border. They looked at our passports, looked at us, back at the passports and told us to pull over. What began next was two hours of, “you’re not permitted to stay here” and, “but, we have the correct paperwork.” Back and forth we went, only to end up being ejected from Serbia. They stamped our passports and sent us back to Macedonia. Carefully trying to discern the difference between ‘Pushing our way into the country and pressing through this opposition,’ we decided to travel back through Macedonia, go north into Kosovo and then try to enter Serbia again through a different border. The night was advancing in its hours and by the time we had arrived at the Kosovo-Serbian border it was already after midnight. The usual drill transpired. We were once again told to “pull over.” Again, after an hour of deliberations, phone calls and conversations we were ejected. Confusion over the last border agent stamping our passports OUT of the country and never IN. Coupled with me answering “yes” to the question; “You were ejected once tonight already and you decided to try and come into Serbia via a different country and border?” meant that we were once again traveling back through Kosovo on our way back to Macedonia.

Leaving out a mountainous amount of details we then got ‘stuck’ between the borders of Kosovo and Macedonia. Neither country was willing to allow us and our materials access into their country. Fueled only by energy drinks and chocolate bars on what was becoming a 21-hour day, we badly needed someone to allow us through. After four or five rejections from several border control agents we were in great need of a reprieve. Finally Kosovo allowed us through on the condition we headed back to Albania. Knowing that we had to be in Croatia for meetings, we had no choice but to change our plan and now go ‘clockwise’ through the Balkans.

Leaving Albania and traveling via Montenegro we arrived at the southern border of Bosnia. Immediately we are told to “pull over.” A directive we were only too familiar with. After another extended period of time that included our car being dismantled, we were finally given our passports back, entry stamps included. As we put our seat-belts on, put the keys in the ignition, we see the Bosnian border agent in our mirror, heading towards the car with his arms aloft (I can’t lie, the temptation to just drive was enticing, but that is not honoring to either those in authority or the Lord.). We got back out of the car and asked him what he needed. What happened next was simply amazing. He pointed to the Biblical material we had for children in the car and said that he has a family and would like some copies. Quickly realizing that in a country that is approximately 0.00025% Evangelical Christian, the chances of this man having the story of Christ in his own language were slim to non-existent. We gladly gave him some copies and carried on our journey towards Croatia with a ‘spring in our step.’

Suddenly we understood that all of the previous rejection that we had encountered over the previous days, led us to a border crossing that we never planned on passing through, to have a divine appointment with a Bosnian agent. Only eternity will truly reveal the souls that had their destiny changed due to that day.

I will accept all kinds of rejection that comes my way if the result is the turning of people’s hearts towards Christ. For God does indeed work all things (including rejection) together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

This is my favourite kind of rejection….

**This was just the first half of the journey. There was more rejection waiting for us. But God brought us through those ones victoriously also**

Against the Crowd

April 14, 2015April 14, 2015 / davidgoundry / Leave a comment

1 Cor 15:33; “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character”.

Growing up my parents always reminded my siblings and I that; “Most men are only as strong as the people they surround themselves with”. I did not know it then but I now know that this was a reference to Paul writing to the church in Corinth, where he reminded them of this very truth. (1 Cor 15:33) Although not limited to these two points, I learned the following from my parent’s instruction:

1.) To be careful of those around me that will ‘flip-flop’ and/or ‘vacillate’ between opinions or positions based on the ‘Crowd’ which they are surrounded by.

2.) To challenge myself not to be so weak that I am governed by the ‘Crowd’ but rather always striving to be governed by truth.

Soren Kierkegaard in his writing entitled ‘The Crowd’ said; ‘No one dares to be himself; everyone is hiding in “togetherness”’. In our generation we often hear; “If the majority deem ‘it’ as correct, ‘it’ must be correct”, or simply put; Majority Rule. This can be a very dangerous view to hold. How many young Christians fall into the trap of this misguided truth? How many of them start to question some fundamental biblical truths because the general populace teaches them something else? ‘Majority Rule’ can be true but often is wrong and has some significant consequences. Especially in a world where falsehood and selfish ambition rule our souls like some tyrannical monarch. If the crowd always represented Truth, then warped and power hungry minds such as Hitler, Lenin and Saddam would’ve been correct in their deplorable actions. Kierkegaard challenges us; that regardless of whether the Crowd is ‘yea’ or ‘nay’…..the challenge is….how are you going to decide what to do?

Are you strong enough in your own convictions to stand alone if needed? (The majority of the people are not so afraid of holding a wrong opinion, as they are of holding an opinion alone). Are you so sure of your fundamental position on which you stand, that even if you are the only one that disagrees with the ‘Crowd’, you would still not waiver and ‘give in’ to the ‘Crowd’? Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England 1599-1658 said this; “Do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you or I were going to be hanged”. The ‘Crowd’ is often fickle. Seeking their favour is often folly.

Our generation gets bombarded by the ‘Crowd’ and its beliefs. Are you going to bow to the ‘Crowd’s’ mentality? Are you going to seek the ‘Crowd’s’ approval? Or are you going to equip yourself with the truth of Christ’s position and yours in Him, where our source of strength and understanding truly comes from?

Much Too High A Price

March 10, 2015March 11, 2015 / davidgoundry / Leave a comment

Matt 13:46; “Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it”.

Have you ever said to someone, ‘Oh, you paid too much for that’….?

None of us like paying over the odds. I think our outings for a new vehicle always carry a certain resoluteness not to get ‘ripped off’ and end up paying more for a vehicle than we were comfortable with. We often guard our wallets to avoid such a scenario and yet there are times when we feel the pinch of paying ‘much too high a price’.

Last year I had this idea that I was going to start two collections (both of which I did complete). The first collection would consist of a banknote from every country in the world, minus a few islands. (I figured I didn’t need a banknote from Pitcairn). The next collection was a little more challenging as I decided to find banknotes for all European countries involved in World War I. That meant that each banknote from the participating countries had to be printed and in circulation prior to the start of the Great War, that was evoked June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo. No small feat. And, if truth be known I probably paid ‘much too high a price’ for old banknotes from Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg. Some may look at these notes and think that it is ludicrous to spend large amount of funds on old paper, but for me I was willing to pay more for these ‘treasures’ of a world forgotten by many. They have become invaluable to me.

It was whilst pondering on these banknotes and their prices that I was quickly reminded of a song that my good friend Devin Webb sang with Michael Neale; “Much to High a Price”. Here was the line that struck me like a hot blade;

“You paid much too high a price for me

Your tears, your blood, the pain

To have my soul just stirred at times

Yet never truly change”.

This old song has lyrics that cut deep if you let them. I found myself with the song stuck on repeat as I meditated once again on the price the Christ paid for mankind. Jesus truly is that merchant that went out and sold all He had just to purchase this pearl. This pearl of great price. Oh, the deep and far reaching love and mercy of our Lord. Being obedient unto death for our sake and yet as the lyricist states; we often have our souls stirred by this very truth, and yet our propensity is that we never truly make a change.

It is moments like these that I am challenged and even feel charged to ‘step up’ and make sure that I don’t allow my soul to feel the stirring of the Living God only to remain the same as before the spiritual stirring began. Don’t let moments of stirring pass you by, receive them, ruminate on them and then let them change you.

Water Gate

October 9, 2014March 10, 2015 / davidgoundry / Leave a comment

Neh 8:2,3; “Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday.”

A few weeks ago there was an important date in the Jewish calendar. The date I am referring to is the 1^stof Tishri, which signals the beginning of a new civil year. (Their religious calendar commences on the 1^st of Nisan). All around the world Jewish people were celebrating what many of us know as ‘Rosh Hashanah’ or ‘The Feast of Trumpets’. During this time I was drawn to the only biblical noted observance of this particular feast. Mentioned in both Ezra and Nehemiah, the same story is told. We read about God’s people returning to Jerusalem after their 70 years in captivity in Babylon. The scene is set, and all the people are gathered together at the Water Gate whilst the Law is heralded to them by Ezra the faithful scribe.

There were many things that attracted my attention in these passages, but none stronger than the structure we know as the Water Gate. There were ten gates around the city of Jerusalem and yet this is the gate that they all met at. Sitting to the north of the Fountain and Dung Gates, the Water Gate would keep a constant flow of water into the Holy City. There may have been certain circumstances that led them to meet at the Water Gate rather than any other gate but I find it tantalizingly thought provoking to say the least. On this special day in their history, this 1^st of Tishri, this New Year’s Day, there was about to be a new beginning and it was all going to be centered on God’s Holy Word. A Revival and Spiritual Renewal were about to take place in the great city, that had not seen since the days of King Josiah and the high priest Hilkiah. So what is the spiritual importance of the Water Gate?

The Apostle Paul states in his letter to the Ephesians that there is a ‘Spiritual Cleansing’ when we are ‘washed in the Word’. Furthermore, In the Gospel of John we see Jesus state that the disciples were clean because of the ‘word He spoke to them’. If then, the Word of God has a cleansing aspect to it, it is fitting that the Water Gate is where everyone gathered. The question for you and I today is this; Do you/I need to revisit the Water Gate? Do we need to be submersed in God’s Word in ways that we have not been before, so that a ‘Spiritual Renewal’ can take place? Let us then surround ourselves with God’s Word, let us not neglect it and cease to bathe in it. If we visit the Water Gate and hear His voice, I pray that our journey to the neighboring Fountain Gate, where the living waters of Christ flow in abundance, will in turn flood the earth with blessing….