Jonny Raine, Cwmbran

I actually have a secret desire to visit a desert island. In fact, specifically, I’d like to make a trip to the south pacific to visit some of the atolls – ring shaped islands with a lagoon in the centre. I’m not sure I’d like to be isolated from civilisation for all that long though, so a short trip would about do it for me.

Which verses would you take to the island?

…Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine. Ezekiel 47:1-12

If I may make a slight break with the pattern, I’d take a passage rather than a smattering of isolated verses. Since preaching through the book of Ezekiel four years ago, my favourite passage has been Ezekiel 47:1-12.

This passage is wonderfully poetic and rich in imagery. Ezekiel has had a vision of the newly rebuilt temple and he’s looking around. Then he’s shown this trickling stream coming from out of the temple. He walks through it and the river gets deeper and deeper until he cannot stand in its depths. As he looks to the banks of the river which are littered with trees on either side. Fruit trees abound bearing fruit every month and with leaves that heal. And he’s told it flows into the Dead Sea, where it turns the salty water into fresh water and brings it to life, teeming with fish.

It’s so profound in describing how all the richness of life and abundance flows out of Jesus, both now and especially in all that we receive in the new heavens and earth. It’s likely picked up by Jesus when he speaks of living waters flowing out of the believer (John 7:38) and in Revelation 22 when it speaks of the river flowing through the eternal city with the tree of life on either side, bringing fruit each month and with leaves that heal.

I love the picture language in the Ezekiel passage, given those allusions. But I still don’t feel like I’ve plumbed its depths, so I’d like to spend time meditating on it more. It conveys so much of the delights of the gospel and of all we have in Jesus.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

Having broken with tradition, let me just choose one other verse that powerfully struck me thirteen years ago in my own Bible reading times and that has remained with me ever since. God’s love is generously extravagant and poured out upon us to the point that we are called his children. How brilliant is that! And that is what we are!

Who would you like to find on the island for company?

I think one obvious candidate for company would be the recently deceased, Eugene Peterson. I found his book ‘The Pastor’ so helpful, as well as some of his other books, and would love to spend more time chatting things through with him. I’m sure he would have a wealth of wisdom to share. Another person that would be good to have on the island is Johnny Cash, so long as he can bring his guitar. He’d be good to have around for his music and stories.

But perhaps my top choice would be Andreas Bodenstein of Karlstadt. He was around at the same time as Martin Luther and made advances more quickly than Luther did. Some would say he moved too quickly on things (Luther included), but I’m not convinced.

When he was left in charge of the church at Wittenberg, because Luther was in hiding, he made some important changes. For example, he opened up the Lord’s Supper to all believers rather than just the minister and he conducted the service in the common language of the people rather than in Latin. As time went on, he stopped wearing Priests clothing and wore the clothing of peasants, as he had a particular burden to reach them. I’m sure he didn’t get everything right, but he would certainly be an interesting person to talk through and to get a different kind of insight into the reformation than what we’re more familiar with.

Which song would you take to the island?

Well, if I were taking something that wasn’t a Christian song, an all-time favourite album is Nimrod by Greenday. If it had to be one track from that album, then it would predictably be Good Riddance (Time of your Life). More recently I’ve been enjoying listening to Youth Lagoon. And if I had to choose one track from his three albums, it’d probably be 17.

But, being a bit more spiritual, my choice at the moment would be Man of Sorrows, Lamb of God. It expresses so wonderfully the narrative and meaning of the crucifixion in its verses and our joy in the chorus; but the bridge is the high point for me, brilliant biblical truth there!

Man of sorrows Lamb of God
By His own betrayed
The sin of man and wrath of God
Has been on Jesus laid

Silent as He stood accused
Beaten mocked and scorned
Bowing to the Father's will
He took a crown of thorns

Oh that rugged cross
My salvation
Where Your love poured out over me
Now my soul cries out
Hallelujah
Praise and honour unto Thee

Sent of heaven God's own Son
To purchase and redeem
And reconcile the very ones
Who nailed Him to that tree

Now my debt is paid
It is paid in full
By the precious blood
That my Jesus spilled
Now the curse of sin
Has no hold on me
Whom the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed

See the stone is rolled away
Behold the empty tomb
Hallelujah God be praised
He's risen from the grave

Geoff Thomas, London

My Mother and My Debt

My mother, Bess, was one of four children, one of whom had learning difficulties; they lived in a little terrace house in Merthyr Tydfil. Her father worked as a ganger for the railroad and her Uncle Oliver was converted in the 1904 Welsh Revival, for the rest of his life was an evangelist. Uncle Oliver carried a text around the town and he preached in the open air on Saturday nights; He could never resist the opportunity presented to him when he was with a crowd of people to talk to them all about the Lord Jesus Christ. If it were a day trip to the seaside, he would get up, leave his children making sandcastles and talk to the people sitting on the beach; “Isn’t this a lovely day, ladies and gentlemen? And do you know that it was God who made this world and he sent his own dear son, Jesus Christ, to be the Saviour of all who put their trust in him…” If his brother-in-law, a farmer, was hosting a family gathering then the men would go for a walk on the mountain in the afternoon and the women would make the farmhouse supper. It would not be long before Uncle Oliver spoke to the men, “Let us have a word of prayer to thank God for his glory and goodness to us.” And he would take the same evangelistic initiative if he were speaking to one person, for example to my cousin: “Look, Bobi, at this patch of ground, at the flowers and clover and grasses, here and here and here. Let us thank God for his presence with us.” My cousin told me how powerful it was. The Lord used Uncle Oliver powerfully in my mother’s conversion.

On Fridays, Uncle Oliver led some youth meetings; writing songs and teaching them to the twenty children who attended. My mother was a young teenager at the time, during the First World War, and she attended every Friday. It was at some time during those years, that she ‘gave her heart’ to Jesus Christ quite artlessly, and then simply followed him all her life.

My mother was betrayed by the liberals who occupied the pulpit in the Baptist church she attended, but lacked any discernment to pass judgement on them. She simply went to gospel meetings, anniversary services, and conventions and listened intently to the messages. But, in 1929, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones came to speak in her town and she heard him. When I went to hear him thirty years later, she recalled to me some of the things he had said that she had never forgotten: “See the opposition to the gospel here in the New Testament and the muddles people made of their lives then. It is just the same today. Man does not change, and neither does the gospel.” When I would hear him, he would still be saying the same.

I went with her to the Baptist Chapel, and she gave me an imperial mint to suck after the third hymn. We moved to Hengoed, a church which had its origins in the conversion of a number of people at Mount Pleasant, Maesycwmmer. Their evangelistic earnestness was not there appreciated and they moved across the valley to Hengoed and planted this church. The older members had a stirring testimony and there my mother and I worshipped. One Sunday night in March 1954 I was given assurance as I heard the Word of God that the atonement of Christ covered my guilt and through him God accepted me, and then I was baptised.

My mother always sang the old hymns under her breath, quite unconscious that she was doing so, throughout her life. “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,” “Jesus the very thought of Thee,” “Crown him with many crowns,” and so on. One day, a close friend, Brian, said to me, “Your mother is remarkable isn’t she?” “Yeah…” I said cautiously, looking for some explanation to his remark. He said, “The way she sings hymns all the time.” I thought, “His mother doesn’t sing hymns!?” I thought every mother sang hymns!

I was my mother’s pastor for the last twenty years of her life. My debt to her is enormous. I long to see her again in heaven. I sometimes think I want to see her more than the Lord Christ; But no, the Lord first and then his bride. I just want to thank her for what she did for me. I never showed her the gratitude that I should have. But she will not know what I am talking about, “When did I help you like that?” she will say, and I will have time to explain.

So, what verses would I find convicting and precious on my desert island?

Her children rise up and call her blessed. Proverbs 31:28

A woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:30

Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. Luke 2:51