Day in the life of…Mark McGill

Had to work all week-end (23hrs work) to help a colleague and meet a deadline – got Thursday off instead.

New car arrived at dealership several weeks late, but I couldn’t have it as the e-paperwork was lost. It takes several days and phone calls to put right, much to the merriment of my open plan office colleagues who listen in, finding it hard to believe how I remained so calm throughout. Able to share with a colleague how I have learned to cope with anger. Quite independently, a stressed out colleague and I have an impromptu chat for another 1/2hr, he wants to borrow a book given to me by a counsellor (who just happened to be a Christian) called ‘Calm Down’ by Dr Paul Hauck ISBN 0-85969-319-8. Those meetings and prayer permanently change my life in 1998. I don’t have to tell him that I am a Christian as everybody know and word sure gets around.

Picked up new car and started to fill it up. Silly me I thought, I must have overfilled it, rather a lot as it happens as I discover I am standing in a growing pool of diesel, rather than running water. Get home only to find diesel still pouring out nearly as fast as I had been pouring it in. Recovery man plugs the hole in the fuel tank under the seat with a metal bolt he just happened to have in his van, we both have a laugh about it.

Day off arrives and I start it with an 11km hill scramble at dawn in Great Comberton (South of Pershore). Intermittent rain cannot dampen my spirits and I appreciate God’s beautiful and scenic creation and praise His name. Return home to change and warm up as I am feeling ‘chilled out’ in both senses of the word. Return to the garage to get fuel tank fixed.

Parked car swings out in front of me without looking. I stop and hoot but to no avail. Instead I get a ring side seat as the driver swipes across the front offside wing of my new car. “Sorry… I didn’t see you” she says. Initially speechless but calm throughout, I replied that it must be disappointing for all three of us (she was just dropping her friend off.) In the dealership, I won the ‘celebrity of the day’ award for setting the record of having a hole in the fuel tank and a crash on their forecourt all within the first 36hrs. Staff at the dealership thought I was taking it rather well and philosophically… it is only a lump of metal after all.

Went to the bank to sort out the newly activated card only to find that neither of us could read the new pin code and the card got suspended. Patiently accepted the fact that I would have to wait another 7 days (18 in total) for yet another new pin number to be sent out to me.

After a 2.5km (100 length) swim at Tudor Grange I felt chilled out once again. Got a No.1-2 haircut, contacted the insurance co’s and bought Jackie some nice flowers as I thought at least one of us could have a nice and happy ending to the day.

Biggest laugh and surprise of the day:- Knowing how angry and violent I used to be as a young man before I knew the grace and peace of God, that I not only remained calm and at peace throughout, but I found myself laughing and smiling at the wonderful and unexpected turn of events. What a day it has been, one that I won’t forget in a hurry!

And finally…switched the computer on to find an email from Adrian asking me to do a blog for the first time ever – thank goodness that I had something good to write about. Better than a day in the life of an office-based accountant!  Where does rescue come into it you may well ask?  Well God clearly rescued me (I’m a changed man!) and I’m pretty sure that some of those around me might have noticed too. Being a Christian continually rubs off on those around us, paticulary in the most difficult of times.

Psalm 145:8
The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

Luke 2:14
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

…Mark (Clarkson) McGill.

Real people…real stories…

…church is not a building, an institution or a structure, it is people! People who all connected together through their faith in Jesus however people who still each have individual stories.

This part of the Oasis blog is here to celebrate these stories as they are what makes Oasis.

Hope you enjoy them !

Love,

Adrian

Life rhythms

Life rhythm from Oasis church on Vimeo.

Introduction to Oasis lunch…

…1pm to 3pm Sunday 14th February. Please come along to ask questions and find out more about Oasis Church

Alpha begins…

… Wednesday 3rd February but it’s not too late to sign up for later weeks!

Equality Bill pt 2

Thought that after the last post about the recent Equality Bill being in the headlines we’d post a few more links with a bit of background  and some developments in the past few days. These are all articles apart from the House of Lords consideration which is from BBC Parliament on the BBC iPlayer and you can see the whole debate itself (they don’t start to talk about the Eqaulity Bill until 32mins 12secs):

BBC News ‘Q+A Equality Bill’ here

BBC News ‘Churches fear Equality Bill will conflict with faith’ here

Guardian newspaper ‘Equality Bill: Churches and campaigners demand clarity over religion’s exemptions’ here

BBC Parliament – House of Lords give a fourth day of consideration to the Equality Bill at Committee Stage here

BBC News ‘Government defeated three times over church gay plan’ here

(nb Oasis church isn’t responsible any of the content on these external links we just thought you’d be interested after the last post)

Equality bill

Just wanted to draw your attention to things that are happening around us in a wider political/cultural way that you might be interested in or might have an impact on the church. One thing that is happening at the moment which has attracted a lot of attention is the Equality Bill, which is about to be debated in the House of Lords. The bill could potentially bring about limitations on who religious organisations can and can’t employ so could in turn affect Oasis Church. There has been an online petition set up to remove certain elements of the bill and I’ve included a link below as well as the government web pages explaining the bill’s purpose. The bill was passed in it’s final reading in the House of Commons and goes to the House of Lords for debate on the 25th January.

Government Equalities Office information on the bill here

Petition to remove elements of the bill here

coffee mug…

This is my favourite coffee mug, it may seem a bit strange to have a favourite mug, but there you go I have one!

The thing is, up until the new year this mug would have exposed a terrible habit I have. Though I enjoy drinking coffee from this mug I would often leave it on my desk waiting to be discovered a few days later. The problem was when I discovered the mug, outwardly it would continue to reveal its pristine white exterior, however on the inside it would be a different story. Inside one would discover a brown sludgy potentially mouldy mess!

The outside, what you could immediately see looked great but the inside told a different story. But I’m talking about my coffee mug aren’t I?

I wonder whether sometimes, if I’m not careful, there is a danger I can be more like my coffee mug than I would like to admit. I wonder whether we can all be? I wonder whether we can find, that the public appearance of who we are can sometimes tell a different story to the one our lives are telling on the inside, in our home, amongst certain groups of people or internally in what we are thinking and feeling?

I watched the BBC four dramatisation of Enid Blyton recently, as I watched it I couldn’t help be in awe of her prolific writing ability and gifting to capture children’s attention. However as the drama unfolded I became more and more struck by the way who Enid was in public was vastly different to her she was in private. Probably the most striking portrayal of this was through the relationship she enjoyed with the nations children who read her books and her two daughters. To the nations children she was a dream Mum who could transport them to magical worlds and fill their lives with joy an laughter, however her own Children really experince none of this and were limited to seeing Enid for an hour a day. This uncomfortable reality was best expressed through a scene where Enid entertains a number of children who have won afternoon tea with her in own home. Enid send her own daughters away so she can entertain the other children. The daughters and listen in enviously to thye fun being had…

Though it was uncomfortable viewing I found myself  wondering how am I like Enid in respect to how I live my life?

Perhaps you and I can be more like Enid or my coffee mug than we would like to admit?

Maybe to admit this is a starting point!

Jesus confronted this inconsistency in living when he walked the earth. Stating, we can look like white washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead peoples bones. He then gave a simple and direct remedy, make sure that you are clean on the inside and outside.

There is a need to ensure that who we are on the outside in public is who we are on the inside in private.

Sometimes its hard to admit who we can be in private, however until we do we can never become who we want to be!

Since the start of 2010 I have resolved to not leave my mug on my desk but rather to ensure that it is clean inside and out.

The start of a new year presents an opportunity to not allow there to be a difference between who we are publically and who we are privately. An opportunity to be clean inside as well outside, to live a life of transparency! An opportunity to start a journey of admiting who you are in order to become who you want to be.

Prayer meeting…

… Join us for a quality evening of prayer Thursday 28th January 8pm in the Moseley Room

Vision Sunday…

… Join us on Sunday 31st January at 10.30am and 6.30pm to get excited for everything God has got in store for Oasis in 2010