{"id":6129,"date":"2015-06-09T06:37:33","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T06:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=6129"},"modified":"2016-01-07T11:57:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T11:57:00","slug":"be-prepared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/be-prepared\/","title":{"rendered":"Be prepared"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail<\/em>&#8221; Benjamin Franklin<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As a boy I was a cub, and loved it, then a scout and loved that too and our motto was about being ready for whatever survival challenge came our way.<br \/>\nPreparation for an event or even something we don&#8217;t see coming seems to be a good strategy and something I try and do.<\/p>\n<p>I remember living in Brazil where I worked as a chaplain for a Christian run drug rehab centre. I soon realised that living and working in this in environment meant that I had to be prepared for anything that would suddenly happen, and stuff did all the time.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most valuable lesson that I learnt was in my personal preparation in stillness and focus on God. In meetings full of people, the leader would suddenly say: &#8216;Please, Nathan come and share what Jesus is showing you today&#8217;. And 80 men would pivot in their seats to welcome me to the front to share something of my DAILY reliance and relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>This moment is probably the one most preachers would dread, I have even dreamt before of being asked to preach, getting up and realising that I had nothing to share, I would wake up sweating!<\/p>\n<p>The point is this: we can easily live a Christian life that stores up favourite Bible verse and prayers, relishes past blessings and moments with God but we have nothing new. My challenge is not about legalism and ritual, it is about getting the manna of God&#8217;s provision every day and to be prepared!<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/be-prepared\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail&#8221; Benjamin Franklin As a boy I was a cub, and loved it, then a scout and loved that too and our motto was about being ready for whatever survival challenge came our way. Preparation for an event or even something we don&#8217;t see coming seems to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1072,1071,73,1070],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1AR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4747,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/reaching-out-to-older-men-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":6129,"position":0},"title":"Reaching Out to Older Men (part 1)","date":"24 October 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We recently had a forum where we discussed how we can do better at reaching older men with Jesus. Here is part 1 of a presentation by David Shipley: It is right to discourage any disconnect between and across age ranges within the CVM network. However, too much conformity denies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7023,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/demolition-squad\/always-be-prepared\/","url_meta":{"origin":6129,"position":1},"title":"Always Be Prepared","date":"27 May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Life is busy and increasingly full of digital distractions. We must take stock of our time if we are to faithfully follower Peter's command to 'always be prepared to give a defence'.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Demolition Squad&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/always-be-prepared.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9312,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/sport-principle-7-get-the-basics-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":6129,"position":2},"title":"Sport Principle 7: Get the basics right","date":"20 April 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"About the Sport Principle In most sports, there are tricks and short cuts for the learner that will fast-track the beginner and accelerate their early progress, to a point. Ways of bending and stretching the rules to the very edge of acceptability - the easy wins we might say. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/veri-ivanova-p3Pj7jOYvnM-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7102,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/fuel-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":6129,"position":3},"title":"FUEL UP","date":"23 August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Another essential part of training for a triathlon, that I had helpfully ignored was the need to give the body the right fuel and at the right times. If I am honest this came to a head after I had been eating a huge dinner at 8:30pm followed by a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/fighting-fit.png?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2532,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/it%e2%80%99s-time-to-take-your-head-out-of-the-sand\/","url_meta":{"origin":6129,"position":4},"title":"It\u2019s time to take your head out of the sand","date":"10 May 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you find yourself going round in loops of negative thoughts? You push them away only to find you're back in the loop when you least expect it. You can't seem to get rid of it and it leaves you feeling down and anxious with no real desire to talk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7518,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/slaying-your-dragons\/","url_meta":{"origin":6129,"position":5},"title":"Slaying Your Dragons","date":"25 April 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Every single day, when the alarm goes off at 6am I face a stark choice. Without fail, the choice I make in those first few moments will always ultimately shape the rest of my day. You see, at 6am I need to choose between my personal dragons and following Jesus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/DRAGONS.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6129"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6730,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129\/revisions\/6730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}