{"id":7005,"date":"2016-05-17T06:03:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T06:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=7005"},"modified":"2016-05-13T09:04:16","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T09:04:16","slug":"keep-looking-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/keep-looking-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep Looking Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/free-people.jpg?w=565\" style=\"border:none\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I was a bit early arriving at my meeting in a town centre church and as it was Scotland\u2019s one day of summer I decided to go for a walk around the town. This is something I really enjoy especially in a town I am visiting for the first time. As I still had a good few minutes before my meeting I decided to grab a coffee, sit outside and watch the world go by.<br \/>\nAs I enjoyed my well-deserved coffee, I began to notice that people were walking around looking down. No one really seemed to be looking up, smiling or acknowledging each other. It was almost like they were trapped in their own little bubble.<\/p>\n<p>This got me thinking as to where we as Christian guys fix our gaze. Often we are filled with sorrow or regret and we are constantly looking backwards. We analyse things that happened in the past and replay it in our minds over and over again. Often we try to imagine what would have happened if we had done or said something different. I am sure that you don\u2019t need me to tell you that this is a totally futile exercise and just causes us further hurt.<\/p>\n<p>Another thing we constantly do is keep looking around, especially when we have a problem. We are worrying about a situation or a problem, desperately looking for a solution, trying to do everything on our own, in our own strength. Of course we are men and can fix anything!<\/p>\n<p>Instead of constantly looking backwards or around us, we need to refocus our attention upwards. Faith looks up towards God and what He has done and is doing for us.<\/p>\n<p>When we are struggling with sorrow or regret over something that has happened we need to fix our gaze upwards and be reminded of what it says in Ephesians (Message Version) <em>\u201cBecause of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we\u2019re a free people\u2014free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!\u201d<\/em> You see when we gave our lives to Jesus, all our sins in the past, present and future have been were dealt with and we don\u2019t need to constantly drag up the past in our minds and beat ourselves up about it.<\/p>\n<p>When we are faced with problems and situations that cause us to worry, it\u2019s time to stop looking around and trying to fix the problems in our own strength. We need to look up and be reminded of God\u2019s promises as in Romans 8:28 \u201c<em>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.\u201d<\/em> We must make prayer our first port of call and not the last, trusting that God has it all under control as He has promised.<\/p>\n<p>As I was sitting outside that coffee shop, I wanted to hold up a sign that says \u201c<strong>LOOK UP<\/strong>\u201d. Advice which I also need to heed every day as I too get fed up looking at my shoelaces.<\/p>\n<p>Keep Looking Up!<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/TsMXK2W9hV0\" target=\"_blank\">Dennis Ottink<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/keep-looking-up\/\"><\/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>I was a bit early arriving at my meeting in a town centre church and as it was Scotland\u2019s one day of summer I decided to go for a walk around the town. This is something I really enjoy especially in a town I am visiting for the first time. As I still had a [&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":44,"featured_media":7006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[843,743,86,1258,531,1257],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/free-people.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1OZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":748,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/god-made-coffee\/","url_meta":{"origin":7005,"position":0},"title":"God Made Coffee","date":"9 June 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Dallas Willard was speaking at our Sunday meeting recently and proclaimed \u201cGod made coffee\u201d (among other things).\u00a0 He was challenging us to remember to thank God for the many good things we are surrounded by and try and to start the day by blessing something of the amazing world we\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\/2014\/12\/friends-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6032,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/those-who-show-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":7005,"position":1},"title":"THOSE WHO SHOW UP","date":"8 April 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"No-one seems to be certain who first coined the famous phrase, \u201cDecisions are made by those who show up\u201d. Its potential authors include a range of people from former US Presidents to movie-maker Woody Allen, and it was popularised by its use in the American TV show \u201cThe West Wing\u201d.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3176,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/a-men-friendly-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":7005,"position":2},"title":"A Men-friendly church?","date":"11 October 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A few years\u2019 back our church stopped doing the Saturday morning men\u2019s breakfast thing. Sacrilege? To be blunt, it was mostly older chaps who went along, and, the reality was, no-one really invited any unchurched men along. It was a social club that was never going to reach the lost.\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":5027,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/communicating\/","url_meta":{"origin":7005,"position":3},"title":"Communicating","date":"20 February 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Are we communicating and speaking the same language on a day to day basis to the people we meet? A good starting point for thinking about spreading the gospel. With a friend a few years ago we stared to have a coffee and share about how to operate an iPaq.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1892,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/my-night-at-the-gay-bar\/","url_meta":{"origin":7005,"position":4},"title":"My Night at the Gay Bar","date":"31 October 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A few weeks ago the CVM team and I headed off for another nights stay at a hotel somewhere in the UK, ahead of a regional mens conference we were putting on. Pitching up at the hotel my wife (and PA) had booked for us, we found it difficult to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Beech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4677,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/my-travels\/","url_meta":{"origin":7005,"position":5},"title":"My travels","date":"23 September 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a fantastic week of travels two weeks ago and met a number of fantastic leaders and men. First stop was in Whitehaven (Cumbria) where I spoke on reaching working class men with the gospel.\u00a0 I met a very dedicated group of people who had decided to move the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Beech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005"}],"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\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7007,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions\/7007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}