Peter Stanway's Podcast

On the previous episode you heard Nikki's poem, 'From Darkness to Light'...this was the very first poem Nikki had ever written. Now, two weeks on, Nikki has wrtten and composed her first ever song, 'Great is Our God'. Our Lord God has put the seed of creativity in all of us. Nikki never thought that she could do this, but God knew that she could!

Great is our God

He calls our name
But we do not always hear
Never giving up
He is always near

Down on our knees
We are broken
The pain is too much
But you have spoken

Great is our God, Great is our God, Great is our God, Great is our God (x2)

You open our hearts
We become alive inside
You know everything
We can not hide

We will follow you
Showing others your love
Till the day we join you
Up in the clouds above

Great is our God, Great is our God, Great is our God, Great is our God (x2)

From Darkness to Light

I am consumed in the darkness
I can not find the light
I am all alone
Afraid of the night

Trusting in you your light overcomes the darkness inside me

I hear a whisper calling my name
The darkness starts to fade
You have come to rescue me
Bring me out of the shade

Trusting in you your light overcomes the darkness inside me

As the light shines through
You show me the way
I am not alone, not afraid
You are with me everyday

Trusting in you your light overcomes the darkness inside me

I can see clearly
As I walk with you hand in hand
I will never let go
I will be with you in the Promised Land

Trusting in you your light overcomes the darkness inside me

Trainees Poems
One of the Five Elements in The Way Christian Ministries’ Training for Life course (http://www.thewaycm.com/tfl.html) aims to release the creativity from within us. It was placed there when God made us in His own image.
Three trainees, Jim, his wife June and Tommy all tried their hand at writing poetry. Here’s

Tommy's Poem
SPIRITUAL BAPTISM

‘Get up aff yer bum. I want ye tae come,
If ye want tae get baptised in the Holy Spirit.’
So ah donnered oan doon, Tae be prayed o’er wi’ strange words,
That to many could seem so absurd.

A whoosh of light, knocked me ontae the flair,
As I realised I wis nae longer there.
Just like ‘beam me iup Scotty’, Ah felt masel gaun,
Surrounded by light, who knows where?

All aroon me wis light, So peaceful and bright,
And a sense of a presence divine.
My mooth rattled oot a few thousand or mair words,
As I floated in this light like the burds.

Mair than words kin say, I know I wis there that day,
With God in his Hame in Heaven,
Whit a strange feeling! Whit a sensation!
Fir oan that day I believe I experienced His salvation.

Trainees Poems
One of the Five Elements in The Way Christian Ministries’ Training for Life course (http://www.thewaycm.com/tfl.html) aims to release the creativity from within us. It was placed there when God made us in His own image.
Three trainees, Jim, his wife June and Tommy all tried their hand at writing poetry. Here’s what they did.

June's Poem
NO DOUBT

Doubting my salvation
I began to pray
‘Jesus’ show me the way
The sins I have done
Are washed away and truly gone

A dream lighted on my mind
A cave of darkness
That made me blind
No-way out I gasped in fear
I felt the devil drawing near
Accusations filled my heart
As the darts pierced my head
Filling me with awful dread

A spiral stair appeared in a shaft of light
I ascended despite the fight
Transported to a different land
As I held Jesus by the hand
Plunged into cleansing waters wide
Washed ashore by the tide
Walked into a village green
A friend appeared on the scene

Suddenly a violent wind
Brought a book around a bend
As it landed oh so near
I was filled with awesome fear
Looking upon the book of my life
My heart filled with so much strife
Opening it to see what I had done
I saw white blank pages everyone!

Trainees Poems
One of the Five Elements in The Way Christian Ministries’ Training for Life course (http://www.thewaycm.com/tfl.html) aims to release the creativity from within us. It was placed there when God made us in His own image.
Three trainees, Jim, his wife June and Tommy all tried their hand at writing poetry. Here’s what they did.....

Jim's Poem
BAPTISM

An ordinary prayer meeting
Or so you think
How long have you been coming here?
Not long I think
Then let’s begin
Norman start in your normal way
Men lay your hands on Jim
And see what I will do

See Jim how I slay you
See Jim how I make you drunk
See Jim how I give you a new language
So that you may praise me
See how you can pray in these groans
So I can pray through you

Give me all the glory
For what I have done for you
You will not forget this
You will remember all your life
And you will give me praise

Romans 8:26……We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
As we read this portion of scripture, we discover that there are times when we do not know how to pray as we ought. On those occasions, instead of waiting for the Holy Spirit to lead us into prayer, we often start to pray what we think we should and let-loose an eruption of meaningless words that gush out of our mouths, ricochet off the walls and disappear into the air having achieved nothing.
As we continue to speak incessantly with great determination, we build an impregnable wall of words that nothing and no-one can penetrate. We fail to hear God’s gentle whisper as He vainly attempts to communicate His will to us.
We are so caught-up in our frenzied barrage that we get lost in a forest of shifting shadows where, sadly, we cannot see the wood for the trees. Skirting around the peripheries of Spirit-led prayer we miss the point. We end up ineffective, frustrated and exhausted.
If we would just stop and wait, if we open-up ourselves to hear what the Holy Spirit wants to say, not only will we begin to pray effectively, but He will progressively lead us deeper into prayer that words cannot express.
In the deeps with God is where He prays through us; groaning, travailing and interceding. We touch His heart and enter into a phenomenal revelation of His will. It is no longer our words but His, sometimes in our language, sometimes in God’s language, sometimes beyond words.
We are caught-up with the Lord in a tremendous place, in the very throne room of God, where His sovereign will for earth is revealed and declared through us, so that, His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us to pray the way you do. Amen.
Read McKenzie Visits the Fourth Dimension here:
http://www.thewaycm.com/mckenzie.html

Song of Solomon 2:10-12……My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.”
The sometimes racy and definitely sensuous, Song of Solomon, is the bible’s love poem. It is an allegory of God’s love for Israel. For our purposes, as Christians, it is and allegory of the love between Jesus Christ and his bride to be, the church (Ephesians 5: 22-23).
In the portion that we are looking at here, ‘my beloved’ is Jesus and He is speaking to Christians everywhere. Remember, Jesus is the Lover of our soul and this is the time of our courtship. There is a marriage feast being prepared in heaven and we, born again Christian believers, are the bride.
Jesus is speaking to us all the time and in this passage He is wooing us. When we hear him speak to us there is excitement within us and our hearts beat faster. Jesus loves us, we are His ‘darling’, his ‘beautiful one’.
When we are with Jesus, the wintertime of our lives is past; the rainy days are over and gone. Now, with our Lover, our Lord, flowers blossom all around us. We want to sing for joy and nature itself joins with us in jubilant adulation and worship.
Jesus wants to raise us up to our full stature, to ‘arise’ as His betrothed for us to see what He has done for us and to know how much He loves us..
Oh, Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us the way you do. Amen.
McKenzie link: http://www.thewaycm.com/mckenzie.html

At Home with McKenzie

Most of what was on television was mind-numbing rubbish but, on occasion, that was just what McKenzie needed! Not tonight, however. He had spent a very underwhelming day and was looking for stimulation. In contrast, McKenzie's wife had been driving here and there throughout her busy day and she was ready for mindless, unstimulating TV to help her unwind and slow down.

When he could stand it no more, McKenzie let his mind wander into the nooks and crannies of his memories looking for what he could find there..….
Maria sat down on the vacant seat at McKenzie’s table, her back as straight as a poker. The slim good-looking waiter, no more than a boy, arrived instantly and slowly eyed Maria up and down. He deliberately licked his lips and almost imperceptibly pushed-out his still-forming hips in Maria’s direction.

‘Por favor’, said McKenzie, unheard. Coughing far-too-loudly, he said it again.
‘Perdóneme’, the waiter said abstractly not taking his eyes off Maria’s pursed lips.
‘Dos cafes con leche’, said McKenzie, obviously annoyed at the distinct lack of attention he was being given.
‘Ahora mismo’, said the boy with the voice of a trained Hollywood actor as he drifted off in slow-motion into the café. If it was a movie, the camera would have cut from the waiter to a close-up of Maria’s captivating face, her eyelids dropping coyly to conceal a delicate blush on her impeccable cheeks then dissolving into a misty filter and cut.

However, this was not a movie set per se, it was every inch real life and in this seduction race it was neck-and-neck between Maria and the waiter. The question was; who was the seducer and who was being seduced?

The whole scenario made McKenzie sick to the pit of his stomach. If he could have been anywhere else, he would have. Right now there was a job to be done and his part was to delicately extract the information he had been sent to get and deliver it, post-haste, to his employers on the coast.

2 Peter 3:3 says…..Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

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McKenzie Feels His Age

As McKenzie sat waiting in the car, his feet turned to blocks of ice. Even although it was minus fourteen degrees Celsius outside, he couldn't remember the cold weather affecting him this much. Maybe he was simply getting older and with each passing year the cold penetrated deeper into his bones.

McKenzie didn't like to think of himself as getting old. He still felt young at heart and his memories of bygone days were as vivid as the day they happened. He hated the cold weather and day-dreamed of the times he had lived in hotter countries.

In truth McKenzie was getting older. He wasn't an old man although he struggled to do the things he used to. He was unfit. Maybe if he exercised he would feel younger, but the thought of all that hard work exhausted him just thinking about it! However, he owed it to himself and he owed it to the people who depended on him. He felt guilty about his lack of responsibility. He resolved to do better in the future.

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

What was keeping her? He sighed and his breath turned to vapour. He decided to get out of the car in order to stand up and straighten his legs. Instantly, the frost attacked his ears and nose and thoughts of frostbite invaded his mind.

There was nothing else for it; he would have to go for a brisk walk in an attempt to get his circulation going. He couldn’t go far because, as yet, he was unfamiliar with Moscow and its ways. Of one thing, however, he was adamant; as soon as he could, he would buy himself a furry ushanka to keep his head and ears warm!

The sound of a car back-firing instinctively made McKenzie spin around. There were no cars to be seen. At once, his eyes were drawn to the crumpled shape of his contact, Helga, lying just ten metres away, face-down in yesterday’s snow. A crimson pool of blood oozed from underneath her, melting a sinister path towards him……

McKenzie Meets Seduction
The heavy rain beat steadily down on the cathedral steps turning the dust to mud and then washing it away. Spain in the rain – not what he was hoping for! McKenzie sat under the canopy of a café situated on one side of a very beautiful plaza and thoughtfully sipped his café con leche. Normally, he would have savoured this moment while indulging in his favourite pastime; people watching, but the cobbled plaza, now shiny and treacherous, was almost deserted.
McKenzie focussed on the drenched horse-drawn open carriage that waited in vain for tourists. Statuesque, the chestnut brown mare stood completely immobile seeming to enjoy this welcome respite and happily unaware of the unseasonably bad weather. Sun-beaten, the gypsy driver sat forlornly wrapped in a brightly coloured thin plastic poncho that caught the drips from his sodden stiff brimmed hat that, in turn, sheltered the permanent Ducados cigarette burning slowly between his sardonic silent lips.
Would she keep their appointment? Was he bothered? McKenzie had developed an inherent trust in God that gave him the confidence to believe that no matter what happened, everything would work out for the best. Was he bothered? Not at all. However, when Maria Lopez de las Flores appeared out of a narrow lane on the other side of the square, his heart did skip a beat. There was an air of elegance and sophistication like two sisters that accompanied Maria wherever she went.
McKenzie scrutinised every inch of her as she made her way towards him. Her jet-black hair tightly pulled back from her pale sculptured face. Her dark eyes like mysterious deep pools and her ever-so-slightly pouting red lips perfectly complimenting her crimson-red shawl meticulously draped from her pushed-back shoulders like a proud matador’s cape after the kill. She exuded confidence. He was going to have to tread very carefully with this one.
He stood to his feet as she approached. Maria locked her hazel eyes on McKenzie’s Arian-blue stare. She put out her hand for him to welcome her. Taking her fine black calf-skinned glove by the finger tips he bowed slowly to kiss the back of her delicately perfumed and stylishly covered hand.
‘Charmed’ said McKenzie, smiling broadly. ‘Thank you for coming’.
‘The pleasure is all mine’. Maria’s voice resonated from her diaphragm like a treasure that had been hidden until now. Her teeth sparkled although there was no sun. She radiated her own light.
‘Steady…’, mused McKenzie, convinced that Maria could read his thoughts…..
….With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose.… (Proverbs 7:21-22)

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McKenzie has an Encounter
McKenzie sat bolt upright his eyes as wide as organ-stops. He was completely conscious yet his dream continued in vivid technicolour. There, in front of him, was a man, an incredibly handsome man, who seemed to emanate a brilliant bright light. His shoulder length hair was illuminated to the ends making it look like there was a halo around his head.
The light, although powerful was not glary, it had a translucent effect that shimmered like a gossamer haze revealing the full spectrum of a magnificent rainbow arching around his unexpected visitor.
McKenzie felt elated; overwhelmed with joy. His guest’s face shone with a broad friendly smile full of perfect pearly-white teeth. His eyes creased with laughter-lines.
‘Peace be with you’, he said with a voice that sounded like a waterfall. A wash of peace, unlike anything McKenzie had ever felt, flooded over him.
‘I am your friend’. Instantly McKenzie felt his heart melt and absolute trust mixed with tremendous adulation gushed out of his innermost being. He had never felt such love for anyone or anything. McKenzie was transfixed.
‘I am with you always’ McKenzie heard as he watched his friend’s powerful arms open outwards. His gracious flowing movements created dark bands where they blocked his radiating light. A kaleidoscope of colours spilled over McKenzie’s upturned face. He knew that his new companion loved him enough to die for him. His heart beat so strongly that McKenzie thought it would burst. As he stared open-mouthed, his new best friend began to evaporate into the ethereal mist and to disappear into the atmosphere that was pregnant with his presence.
McKenzie continued to stare into the empty space that had been temporally filled by the most glorious being he had ever seen. His mind could make no sense of it, but inside – deep inside, he knew he need never fear anything ever again. The sound of silence enveloped him as he slowly lay back down; his heart was still thumping inside his chest.
‘Thank you’, he said out loud to his friend. McKenzie was so overwhelmed he thought he would explode with gratitude.
‘Thank you, McKenzie’, came the response, like a gentle whisper that carried him off into the most peaceful sleep he had ever known.
Matthew 28:20 says……“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

McKenzie Sets His Face Like Flint
This week we learn a little more about this intriguing character, McKenzie. Who is he? Slowly, over a period of time, we will get to know him. We will come to understand his character, his background and his beliefs…..
The biting wind and driving drizzle stung McKenzie’s stubbly face. He found it exhilarating and smiled inwardly. Dressed for the weather, he leaned into the brewing storm.
‘Bring it on’, he said unheard, ‘I’m ready!’
McKenzie had been humiliated by his peers. Initially, he was cut to the core and angry. As he planned the most diabolical revenge imaginable, a thought, seemingly from nowhere, popped into his mind. It stopped him in his tracks and he began to feel guilty about his violent and heinous machinations.
Surely there was another way? By reacting out of his hurt feelings he was revealing how much he had been wounded and offended. However, by not reacting but instead adopting a stoic shield of apparent unaffectedness, he would turn the table on the perpetrators.
He prayed to himself silently and asked God to help him. He remembered something he had read from the book of Isaiah:
‘Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.’ (Isaiah 50:7)
That was the answer! He put on his bravest face and, like the crags of his beloved Scotland, he weathered this personal storm, seemingly, none the worse for wear….

McKenzie is Searching
The trees, limp and heavy after days of incessant rainfall, hung stoically in the eerie stillness. The inky black sky seemed to crack open for the briefest of moments and a full moon slid out from behind a slow moving invisible cloud spilling light over the forest floor like a tremendous symphony of chiaroscuro.
Bright beams cut through the dense canopy and splashed pools of iridescence onto the damp, thick camouflage of the wild forest floor. A magnificent cathedral of majestic Kapok Trees stood frozen all-too-briefly in time for the single strobe of the moon’s creative glare.
Would they ever find what they were looking for…..?
A trickle of sweat slowly made its way down McKenzie’s rigid spine. He could trace its course. Beads of perspiration congregated on his furrowed brow. The humidity was tangible. It was two o’clock in the morning and McKenzie longed for the secret solitude of his humble camp-bed back at the hut he fondly called home.
What was he doing lost in the merciless undergrowth of the Amazonian Rainforest? Why was he searching for someone he barely knew?
The child had vanished almost thirty-six hours ago. McKenzie’s hand had shot-up without his permission when the police officer made an appeal for volunteers. It could have been his daughter who was missing….it could have been him. His mind drifted back to a time when he snuggled into his mother’s lap and, with his eyes closed, his mum stroked his hair as she told him this story from the bible…..
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ (Luke 15:3-6).

McKenzie Confronts His Fears
The air was so humid that McKenzie's cheap off-the-shelf spectacles slid down the greasy slope of his aristocratic aquiline nose. Almost habitually and certainly
without thinking, he pushed them back up to the bridge where beads of sweat
formed between his furrowing eyebrows.
At any cost, McKenzie was determined to finish his paper that he would present
before the scientific intelligentsia at the World Summit for Unilateral Disarmament
in Sao Paulo, Brazil that afternoon.
For a moment he was distracted, was that a creak he heard on the well-worn
stairway outside of his shabby hotel room or was his fertile mind playing
tricks on him.....?
We’ve all been there, or have we? Is McKenzie so different from you and I? Under pressure, our anxiety levels rise and with that comes the accompanying psychosis….paranoia and irrational fear.
Let’s see what happens next….
McKenzie smiled inwardly, why was he anxious? His mind went back to the time when, as an eight year old boy, he woke up during the night struggling to make sense of the
worst technicolour nightmare he had ever had.
His pj’s were sticking to him with sweat, his eyes, like organ-stops, stared
wildly into the unyielding darkness that surrounded him. His heart was racing
so fast that it felt like it would burst out of his chest. Fear paralysed his
throat as he struggled to scream out, ‘Dad!’
‘What is it son?’. The strong, reassuring sound of his dad’s voice pierced the
darkness and dissolved McKenzie’s fears….
Lost, alone and gripped by fear, we all need to know that there is someone we can call out to for help. Who do you cry out to when fear overcomes you?
Jeremiah 33:3 tells us what God says in the bible, ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things
you do not know.’
When we are disorientated and perplexed, we need to hear a strong reassuring
voice that takes control of our situation, makes sense of our confusion and
encourages us with the promise of great things to come.

Part 1 - Alive Radio Interview (Dumfries Scotland).
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