soft on Yeltsin

I remember reading this article nearly a year ago.

Mr Gorbachev talked about some of his regrets. How he should have known better. Mr G has regrets, but he didn't do anything at the time. So are they just rose-tinted and fuelled by hindsight and a desire to have remained in power for longer? I don't know as I can't ask the man what the real motivations were.

I'm sure most of us don't want to get to the point where we find ourselves at 80 years old (Lord willing) with a pile of things we wish we'd said or done.

Of lessons we wish we'd learned the first few times, not the twentieth time. Or we've still not learned.

Lots of sporting analogies and blasé statements fill our Twitter streams and Facebook feeds. The reality is, however, that life is all about making decisions.

Too often, I think we make the decision to drop out. To not even make a choice and *let fate decide*. Really?

Is that life in all it's fullness?

I don't think so. I'm not for making 100 strategic decisions about your day before you've got out of bed.

But there's an opporuntity for those of us who want to listen for the Spirit of God as we follow the way of Jesus to find out there's much grace to be discovered as we make decisions in light of His truth and His mercy. If He is with us, are we paying attention? Are we bothered? There's no magic formula, but by faith all things are possible.

In fact, maybe we can avoid regret by spending less time looking through the rose-tints and more time in the present that shapes the future.

How do you do it?

activated

Let's be clear; I'm not the perfect activist, nor am I the answer to the problems people face.

But here's the thing. From some of the influences on my more formative years, I have developed a passion for Justice & Mercy. Two massive topics that are much beyond what I can cover in a few pixels on here.

Justice is key to the teachings of Jesus Christ, who lived in the tension between this and Mercy. Mercy, for me is typified by the story in John 8:1-11. Have a read for yourself to get the full Bhuna, but the question Jesus asks "where are your accusers?" leads to a clear demonstration of God's Mercy.

What's this got to do with a wannabe activist? Well, as a follower of Jesus, I believe I am to live a transformed life of Love, where Mercy & Justice do their thing alongside the most extravagant gift of all; Grace. If I am living Justly then I will be honest, fair, meeting people's needs where I can and speaking up/standing up/demonstrating support for those who are not being treated Justly.

I'm not deluded that in Western society (where I live), we're not-as-hard-done-to as many other people on the planet (see "the bottom billion"), however we are surrounded by injustice.

We are also surrounded by the opposite of Mercy; Cruelty.

So what do we do about it? Fold our hands and bemoan the state of the nation? Err, nope. Pray, asking and believing God will intervene? Yes - but that's not enough. We are called to demonstrate our involvement. I'm not necessarily talking about placards & t-shirts, or throwing eggs, but being active in Love & Merciful deed. It's not an exhaustive list of things you might try;

• Contact your MP, MSP, Welsh Assembly member, Local Councillor etc about what matters to you.
• Interact with those in need (I'm sure there's plenty organisations near you who would welcome a humble, willing helper)
• Support organisations who meet people's needs
• Oh yeah, and maybe support people you share life with - at work, study, family. Y'know, those right next to you!

I definitely could get better at all of this stuff, so pleased don't think I'm standing aloof. Just sharing my view of the landscape!

Where has all this come from? Last week, I received a BRILLIANT mailshot from Kingscare (I'll be asking them to send things electronically in the future to save some trees). George Dowdell has written an excellently thought-provoking article on his story that really encouraged me to make a noise without it being about stirring up guilt, fear or shame. But hope. Hope in Justice, Mercy and that Love beats all-comers. End of story.

What I also LOVED was that the leaflet wasn't a sales pitch for Kingscare, so no plea for cash. Just an encouragement to action in whatever way you can respond. This is part of my response.

Have a read of the leaflet. You can print it, if you need to, or pass the link on. Sure we'd love a facebook app to connect it to our networks, but we don't need that to create some word-of-mouth, do we?

Let me (and more importantly, let Kingcare) know what you think.

As a good friend says; "Get Involved"