Eph 1:3-10

Clive Urquhart

'All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.'

Last weekend our church ran a community outreach event, 'Ultimate Car, Ultimate Life?' We turned the inside of our building into a motor show and the outside into a quad, kart and 4x4 display area along with drive through car reviews.

The star attraction of the show was definitely an ultimate car, a Toyota F1 car, which had been adapted as a simulator for people to have a go at driving.

By calling the event, 'Ultimate car, Ultimate Life', we were posing the question, 'Is owning the ultimate car (or the ultimate anything) really living the ultimate life?

An F1 car is designed and created for a very specific purpose: to win. No stone is left unturned to develop and perfect every aspect of the car. Every minute detail is thought about, every part made with total devotion. The amazing thing is that the 'creators' only design the thing to run at its maximum for one race, an hour and a half, before it needs to be rebuilt ready for the next race.

Even during a race the car has to have several pit stops to be refuelled and have new tyres in order to fulfil its purpose. The driver is in radio contact with the team to make sure that, together, they are working to the strategy that was decided before the race began.

The car is totally dependant on the one's who have made it, it can't go it alone. If it keeps away from the pits things go wrong, one of which is running out of fuel - the purpose is aborted.

To parallel this with our lives, God is the ultimate designer, the creator. He chose us, picked us out, spent time thinking about us before the creation of the world to have relationship with Him, to be holy and blameless in His sight. What an awesome thought, God saw you, thought about you and chose you before creation as holy and blameless in Him.

Like the F1 car, for us to fulfil our God given purpose there must be total dependence on our creator. We are not designed to go it alone and be self-dependant but to depend on Him and live out the plan He has purposed for our lives.

In a culture that lives at a rapid rate it's very easy to get caught up in the business of everything and only have a 'pit stop' with God when you suddenly realise you need Him.

As you are living the race God has called you to today, keep your two way radio constantly open with Him, try two or three 'pit stops' where you take a few minutes out with Him and then finally, give Him some quality time where it's just you and Him.

Like the F1 car going for a rebuild ready for the next race, give God the space to build you up so that you are fit for the purpose He has for you every day.

Have an awesome one today. Expect God to touch someone else's life through yours.

If you are looking for a great outreach day to take friends or work colleagues to who wouldn't go to a church building based event then have a look at the off road event activity days we run www.lifediscovery.co.uk