Archives: February 2010...

Editorial...

Where have you bin...

Bin men are great. Round our way they come on a Tuesday. By the time I’m showered, dressed and had a nice cuppa, they’re off with my vegetable trimmings, rotten leftovers and hoover bag contents. What legends.

If you’re like me you’ll hate putting out the bin bags, so just imagine having to deal with everyone else’s trash as we’ll as your own… that would be rubbish (get the pun!).  Sure, bin men get paid for their trouble, but it’s not as if they’re all earning a mint. They probably hate it as much as we imagine they do.

This month Lent begins (on Wednesday 17th Feb to be exact), where we all get to act a bit like bin men and chuck stuff out of our lives that is a bit luxurious or just not necessarily needed. The point of lent is to fast. It’s to give some stuff up to instead create time and space to reflect on God and prepare for the amazing sacrifice of Jesus at Easter. Jesus himself fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil, an act which helped him prepare for his amazing ministry, death and resurrection. Lent, in its small way, offers us the chance of a time of preparation and devotion, where we put God ahead of all else in our lives.

But putting out the trash is a proper chore. It’s not fun and it takes a good few asks before we get on and do it (we’ve all got that tendency to let the bin overflow with rubbish ‘til someone finally succumbs and decides to empty the receptacle of all its mess). In the same way, fasting isn’t an attractive proposition. Telly, iPhones, Facebook, chocolate, buying stuff… they are all things we love and giving them up, even for a few weeks can be a real pain. But, we give them up because we know they get in the way and getting rid of them helps us clear our heads, creating some space beyond the busyness of school, life, work and all the rest to find God in the everyday normality of just sitting, being and thinking.

So, is there anything that you reckon is getting in the way that you could throw out to be able to focus better on Jesus? Have a think, but don’t get legalistic about it, give stuff up because you genuinely want to spend the extra time you gain remembering Jesus and hanging out with him. Furthermore, let us know how you get on, we’d love to hear your stories and post them as an encouragement to others too.

You can start your time of focussing on God by checking out the rest of the mag. Toby Bassford finishes up his series on faith and culture in our Momentum section, Deano changes his perspective in Value, Jeannie reflects on how you find out what you’re made for in Reality and Krish reveals how we can time travel with the Bible in our Bible Stuff section. Plus there’s a look at how hope is returning to Haiti after the terrible earthquake last month and there’s the chance to win a DVD video of all the Big Top talks from Soul Survivor Week C in 2009...

Sound good? Then have a gander.

Have a great month, and drop us a line

Have a good January.

Dan
editor@soulsurvivor.com