When I was young I was blessed to be part of a lively youth group called Caleb Club. Caleb was one of the twelve spies Moses sent into the land to do reconnaissance. Only Caleb and Joshua brought back a good report. They had faith God would be with them if the people entered the land. The other ten returned overwhelmed by fear and a lack of faith. God commended Caleb saying, “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” (Numbers 14:24) The reason the youth group was called Caleb club was to inspire young people to follow God wholeheartedly as Caleb had done.

When you were five years old, what did you want to be when you grew up? Some of us may have dreamt of being an astronaut or a princess or a movie star, but in reality most people grow up to live very ordinary lives. We might wonder how we can live effective faithful lives for God in the ordinariness of our daily life. But the good news is that God uses ordinary people.  1 Corinthians 1.5 says God chose what the world considers ordinary... to fulfil his purposes on earth.

When I lived in Nelson I planted a grapevine. Each spring I would look for the new growth to begin, the fruit buds to form and the leaves to sprout. Every week or so I would tend the vine, trimming it to encourage growth. Then in the autumn I would give it a hard prune ready for the following year. I think the birds got more of the grapes than we did, but I enjoyed working on it each season.