Happy Christophermas

On this day a child was born, at this time a son was given and his name was called Christopher Luketon John Dryden.

Up until last night I wasn’t particularly bothered about putting together a blog about a day like today. I don’t think I’ve done it in the past. That all changed when I got the package from my sister which turned out to be my birthday gift. On the back of the packaging she put on a greeting that I couldn’t ignore. The text on it basically said Merry Christophermas! I’ve never had that before and it got me thinking about how good it is to celebrate someone’s birthday on his birthday! That’s a novel idea, might work in other areas as well if it was called for.

Anyway on this Christophermas Day I give God thanks for all the contributors to the life of Christopher Dryden. Thanks to my wonderful parents who invested their lives into making me a man who feared God and understood that without Him I would not make any progress in life. Thanks to two precious siblings who kept me sharp and have stuck by me, encouraging, scolding, rebuking, consoling, inspiring and sharing life with me.

Thanks to the church in which I grew up in Wellingborough which was a reliable stalwart of faith during those crucial formative years and brought a lot of smiles to my face and grounded me with an appreciation for the Bible.

Thanks to those schools that kept me occupied in those crucial formative years of my life – Croyland Nursery, Hardwick Infants, Victoria Infants and Victoria Junior. Thanks to those teachers who oversaw what educational development I made in those years. Thanks to the neighbours in Minerva Way and others in that Queensway estate who for me made my first seven years of existence appear in mind’s eye to be rather idyllic.

Thanks to Wrenn School for the years spent from naïve youngster to naïve know-it-all teenager. Thanks to the great teachers who irrevocably impacted my life not just with their love of education and teaching, but their obvious delight in helping people. Thanks to the other pupils whose engagement with me over that time was memorable for one reason or another.

Thanks to Essex University for the essential growing up years that needed to take place in exposing me to the big bad and good and indifferent world. Thanks for the people who opened my eyes to the fact that people don’t fit easy boxes and life is so wonderfully messy, diverse and complex. Thanks to the Windsor Fellowship and the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (at the time) that also significantly gave so much in terms of work-life

Thanks to the folks at the church in Peckham who took me in during the university years and made me feel a part of them. Thanks to the love and grace of some people who took me under their wing and tried to help cultivate someone still very rough around the edges. Thanks to the care, attention and wider perspective of fellowship and church than I had previously known.

Thanks to the people on the CAMP Committee and in the CAMP Choir for years of insight into worship and offering God the best in song and through music. Thanks for the lessons of voluntary team work and administration – commitment and being at your best giving all you can and not performing to impress others.

Thanks to the British Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day) that has given me the foundation of the faith in which I grew up. Thanks for the many characters who over my time on earth so far have made this journey so eventful, rich in incident and fascinating in its insight in religion, spirituality, culture, fellowship, worship, organisation administration, leadership, communication and building corporate identity.

Thanks to those who have journeyed with me in my years in Stoke-on-Trent – UCB/Cross Rhythms, Blue Mountain Housing Association, Staffordshire University Library and Learning Resource Services, MA Broadcast Journalism at Staffs University, North Staffordshire Racial Equality Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Manchester Metropolitan University Education Unit, North Staffordshire YMCA, North Staffordshire African Caribbean Association, Saltbox Christian Centre and the various partnerships made with individuals over that time. Thanks to the various individuals I’ve come across in this time who have tremendously enriched my life through their example, conversation and inspiration. Thanks to the friends that I’ve made over this time who have really impressed me with the love they share and the way it has changed my heart and head.

Thanks to the members, associates and friends past and present of StokeCOG who have all played their part in affecting my whole understanding of what it is to be church. Thanks to that faith network that has made life so rewarding even in its darkest hour. Thanks to the exciting journey of church development and walking and talking the faith.

Thanks to all those people who popped up on the journey in those one shot moments of life never to be seen again but whose input has undoubtedly help write the story thus far. Thanks to the characters, personalities and figures across various media – books, magazines, web-sites, blogs, music, TV, radio, movies, etc. who have imprinted their creativity into my psyche.

Thanks to two delightful daughters who give me the honour and privilege of fathering. Thanks for their uninhibited love and smiles which they unfurl to melt my heart. Thanks for their stubbornness and insubordinate behaviour that hardens my resolve to let them know how out of love I need them to change their ways. Thanks for their capacity to learn and grow and their infectious spirit of life that reminds me that the purpose of life is to live so that others may enjoy their purpose to life.

Thanks to the partner of days that changed my life and my whole way of seeing the world around me and showing me that true love is more costly and more rewarding than could possibly be imagined. Thanks to the lover of my life who has such a huge heart that overwhelms me in its manifold expressions of that love. Thanks to the companion on life’s journey who loves to offload the issues that oppress and depress as well as excite and delight. Thanks for this supporter of her husband who has dedicated the rest of our days together to love in all of its fullness.

Thanks to the Heavenly Father who has allowed this wayward son to blunder from mishap to tragedy and been there to console and pick him up. Thanks to Him for calling me His son and marking an identity for me and giving me a purpose with gifts and abilities to assist but an innate dependence on Him for all that He is and does. Thanks to the Son who stands as a role model and focus of faith whose self-less life, passionate ministry, dynamic teaching, engaging healing, solid companionship, brutal death, triumphant resurrection, magnificent ascension and glorious return gives more than hope for life lived now. Thanks to the Servant King for showing grace and truth and equipping me with that desire and ability to keep that Kingdom agenda going in all of my life.

I have been a noted loner, but as already evidenced in this abbreviated roll-call of times and places, there are so many different faces that have been a part of the story and made it what it is today. Thanks to those and so many others who may have been overlooked. Thanks for your input good and bad. Thanks for making this a happy Christophermas.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

He's My Brother

Today my only biological brother celebrated his 31^st birthday. David joins my father and I in not being that much bothered about birthday celebrations. Then again the whole point about these things is that you don’t have to be bothered when other people will be bothered for you. When it comes to being bothered about David Dryden I make a habit of it.

I trust my brother. I implicitly trust him in a way that I trust no other human being with the exception of my wife. I trust my brother like I trust no other man including my own dad. When everyone else gave up on me, my brother never gave up on me. When everyone else misunderstood me, my brother stuck around and even when it was a case of others not wanting to stick around, he stuck up for me like no other person has ever stuck up for me. The Bible suggests that faithful are the wounds of a friend and my brother has been faithful in challenging my beliefs, deflating my ego and on occasion giving me some hard home truths.

There was a point in which I hoped he and his beautiful wife Nicola would stay with me in the area. It is a point of how highly I regard him that I desperately wanted that to be the case. As it happened it worked out for the best that he chose to remain in Milton Keynes as it has meant I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy many great weekends down his yard and seeing what it is to enjoy the Sabbath rest, have wonderful warn relaxed fellowship and good food.

David as a brother has been brilliant this year in the understated ways as well. This year has been crucial for him to grow up and he’s risen well to the challenge. It is the greatest joy to know he’s made it being a father. The devotions he has and the undoubted love he has for his wife and his son are a quality trait to be admired by most men and I’m glad he’s not made some of the elemental early mistakes that I made in a similar position.

My brother remains a man of integrity committed to the truth at any cost especially on himself. He’s been willing to walk in places that few would dare to tread on the basis of his conviction of his beliefs. He’s taken that road alone at times, but he has shown incredible strength of character to not only persist in the area but also to gain strength and wisdom from it.

It is his character development over recent years that have been particularly pleasing to me. His skill and talent were never in question, but his priority of character over theses has allowed him to pay some costly prices in this regard. That bravery is something I hope will be a hallmark of his son and others. I pray that his circle of influence will indeed continued to be impressed by his character.

David faces some hard days ahead and I’m sure wouldn’t say no to prayers for him and his family, yet I remain confident in God that my brother will walk through these challenges with a great commitment to the truth and expression of it in his daily life. I know I continue to appreciate his advice and words of wisdom that remind me of what it’s all about. I know these will be entrenched even further because of his choosing his path of righteousness.

He’s a great friend to me and means far more than flesh and blood. I trust he will go from success to success in every aspect of his life. He ain’t heavy …

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

DMCD Family & Friends

I won’t have time to blog properly tonight especially in continuing the fasting series although the good news is there that more material has been developed for it and I’m excited to publish it as soon as I can. Also on the good news front this is a very important week for me writing wise as I have at least three opportunities to really let that light so shine as it were. There are two articles for certain areas of the press that I’m putting together which is rather exciting. Then there’s a report I’m putting together with a friend in an ongoing series that I’ve got to knuckle down and churn out before the deadline. So this week is set up to be a challenging and promising set of days should I walk with Jesus closely through it. Your prayers are very much required in that regard.

This weekend has been a very good one for a number of reasons. Firstly it was a family weekend in a special way. I may have mentioned that my Mum’s in the country to help my brother following the joyous entry of the first child in the wonderful union of he and his beau Nicola. Recently we were able to send Abigail to spend some time with Mum in her child-minding role. This weekend we’ve gone down to MK where the second Dryden family live and have been able to spend some quality time with them.

So it’s one thing to be reunited with my Mum who I haven’t seen in a while. To top it off though my sister and her son Mattaniah were also in the neighbourhood and I haven’t seen her in quite some time. To see her again was especially pleasing and to catch up with her on how life has been was especially rewarding. The time with them all, however, showed just how much time has changed and for all the similarities and family connections that keep us tight, there is still the inevitable fact that things have changed.

I’ve changed, they’ve changed, things have happened and as a result things have changed. We are not the same three children running around our parents causing grief and mayhem. Indeed now my Mum is the proud grandmother to four of five grandchildren that she had around her this weekend. It’s a tremendous blessing and a significant landmark in how things have changed. I’m grateful for the different relational dynamics that make up family both that which makes us connect and that which apparently makes us repel against each other. It’s all a part of the mix and a good founding for similar issues that we can expect in church family and other social expressions of family.

The cake was already quite something, but what crowned everything off was a visit from an old friend who I caught up with. For privacy reasons I won’t disclose that person’s identity per se except to say it is a ‘she’ (which narrows it down significantly … not) and her impact on my life has been great in ways not known especially by her. It was so brilliant catching up on how things have … yes you’ve guessed it … changed. Also great reflecting on the challenges those changes pose for the future and those changes that lie there. It was also fascinating to explore a bit more into what makes up a person and sometimes it’s great fun realising just when you get a hang of the jigsaw pieces in your hand, another load falls into your lap and you have to work those out as well as fitting them in with the current pieces. People fascinate and it was such a pleasure and a thrill meeting my long lost friend.

So, all that to say, with the preparation for that and other work commitments, blogging has not been a priority for the last five days or so. This could also be reflected in a reduced amount of blogging this week with the things planned, but I hope not as there are so many wonderful developments to share and of course this series on fasting has really captured my writing bug and I don’t want to let that go until I’ve done justice to it. So plenty to keep dmcd busy and off the streets! As ever just keep praying, having Mum around the house should be interesting and a tremendous blessing to the family dynamic here. It is also a precursor to a very hectic end of summer affair in and among which, I really want to stay focussed on God and what He’s calling me to do and responding faithfully to that. Thanks as ever.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Fast and the Curious: Desperately Seeking God

As I thought that brief intermission from the series has allowed me to feel refreshed addressing this important issue of fasting. So where we’ve been is the ignorant start that led to an awareness of why fasting is so important. Nothing happens out of context so relationships have played a key role in growing in this area. There are significant bonuses found in the hugely underrated spiritual discipline. The last stop in this journey is a most remarkable episode that should have had lasting implications for me.

Indeed I would love to be able to tell you that from there I grew in stature and favour with God and with man as my spiritual devotion went from strength to strength in such areas. Sadly that would be lying. Events took a turn for the worst near the end of 2004 and 2005 was a rough year of sorting and sifting personally and corporately. Near the end of that year, though, as the light became a bit more evident fasting again became a key tool in helping me get my bearings on what it all meant.

I remember during the end of year festivities a group of us as men spent a day fasting at a friend’s house. It was the first time I remember fasting since the year before. My brother was visiting me in Stoke at the time and he was able to join us as we reflected again on the nature of fasting and it was so humbling to be able to learn things about fasting that put a lot of the mess of my life at that time into perspective. It was literally a time of humbling recognising that fasting is about seeing me for who I am in the light of an awesome, holy, omni-you-name-it God.

It regularly comes to remind me that the focus should be on Him to inform everything else in life. Downfalls occur when that focus has shifted, which is easy to do because that is the fallen nature of man – hence idolatry. It was a very sobering time of prayer and reflection in conversation. I remember David’s contribution in that session about the sheer physical insignificance of the human in the light of God being something that should humble us. We are the great Big Cheese (especially seeing as though I hate cheese).

The one reason why they call acts like fasting a spiritual discipline is because it is such a useful tool to remain focussed on the whole point of being a disciple. The seeds to my downfall at the end of 2004 were familiar ones of being busy.

I was even reflecting near the beginning of the week the episode of Jesus with Mary and Martha. The scene is sadly too familiar in Christendom and is somewhat reinforced by the Protestant ethic. Here is Martha, noticing that the Master is in the house and so will need serving. She is toiling away ensuring things are sorted, but as she labours alone she grows somewhat frustrated that her sister is sitting at Jesus’ feet taking in what He’s saying. Finally fed up she asks the Rabbi to instruct her sister to lend a helping hand. Jesus, however, rather than commending Martha on her practical helps and works, actually suggests that Mary’s option was the wiser.

Life and especially church life can keep you wrapped up in a routine of going from service to service and supporting one thing and another. It feels like it is one activity blending into another and before you know it you’re caught up in the fatal rat-race of keeping active because life is in the activity. You can more than rationally explain works-based faith on this reading.

Now I don’t want to dismiss the importance of actually doing something. By no means am I promoting a comatose spirituality full of wistful contemplating and ‘breathing in’ more of God. The danger however is to be defined by the things we do, rather than being defined by relationship – child of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Where fasting is a wonderful reminder of that simplicity is like Mary, fasting says I am desperate to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear what He has to say to me. So desperate am I for seeking God that all else matters not even that which I’ve claimed to be fundamental like food and drink. This does not matter as I afflict the body to seek out the Saviour.

In the madness of a busy life we can lose sight of that and fasting as a disciplined exercised properly arrests that mentality. It shifts the focus from what I do what He has done and what He continues to do. Fasting arrests my hyperactivity and leaves me more in awe of what God has said and has to say on my current situation. With senses so attuned to how His voice speaks and the content in it – whether in the Word of God or through a casual conversation, or wherever else – we end up with a better perspective of who we are and who He is and like Mary will have invested in the better portion.

The Christian journey is such, though, that even in the depths of despair and hopelessness as He helps you pick up the pieces of your broken shattered life it in itself will be a cause for rejoicing just to consider that amazing love and compassion that would allow Him to use experiences like this to hunger for Him more. It comes across counter-intuitive, but as events would show, sometimes the most painful of times is exactly what needs to happen to draw us closer to Him even in fasting and prayer.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Quick Weekend Note

The teaching today worked out alright. What I enjoy most about the opportunity to teach is the creativity it calls for from me in making connections to some of the key points. It’s a conversational approach to the teaching ensuring that within it people are engaging with the material. It’s not always easy to discern whether people get it, but the test f the pudding is in the eating apparently.

My brother’s around so that has made the day that much better as we have been able to talk and catch up on a lot of stuff. He is such a gifted creative songwriter and producer that I’m eager for his stuff to get the airing it deserves. In the meantime he has a MySpace page that I strongly recommend you check for yourself especially The Last Time sample which is seriously underrated.

That really is it for today. Hopefully I’ll be working through some of the outstanding articles in the next day or so and with Oscar night nearly two weeks away I want to share that elusive review of The Dark Knight among other reviews.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

He Ain’t Heavy … He’s My Link To Some Funny Stuff

David has been with us at the crib since last night. It’s good to have him around. You must know how much I love my brother by now! I have blogged about him in detail. We strike a good rapport whenever he’s around and I find it helps me to unload stuff when I’m around him. Like tonight I gave him the full Rafa Rant and we earlier on discussed the concept of things starting at home. It was just great to be able to bounce off him. He’s good for business.

What makes him especially helpful as well is that he’s a very resourceful man. Very resourceful. Just before I got to start my notes for the evening – and it’s rather late around 10:55pm – David shared some great stuff with me. It’s so good I’ve had to post it on the Among Friends site.

The five part series called The Googling is a great comic riff on the whole supernatural in the natural thing. What I really enjoyed was the fact that this is obviously a group approach and although not experts on a professional scale, the movies are watchable, enjoyable and hilarious. They are so good I would happily recommend them to anyone. There’s also plenty of food for thought in some of them. So go ahead and check them out (part one, part two, part three, part four, and part five) and let me know what you make of them!

Also while you’re there check the latest offering for New York Comic Con 2009 by It’s Just Some Random Guy. I tell you the truth, as someone better than I put it, IJSRG is one of the great talents that give YouTube a reason to exist. The world is a happier place for having this dude’s creative juices flowing for us all.

And speaking of creative, please pray for me, I’ve been invited to speak again at Church WOW – more on them in a later entry. It’s on the topic Creation and it’s exciting thinking about the different angles to approach it and the ways it can come across. The prayer is that I allow the Spirit to have His way in the planning and execution of the presentation to God’s glory and the benefit of His people.

Well that’s a highly informative post about me today and thankfully for the first time in ages I’ve been able to do more posts on me other blog than on this as it was looking a bit empty for this year’s quota. I hope you enjoy them all and I’ll be back soon.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd

A Word From My Brother

Hi people,

Well it ain't Chris today. I'm his brother, David. I'm here visiting my bro over the holidays. Don't get no ideas. I don't celebrate xmas. To be totally blunt, I hate the celebration. Added to that is the fact that I'm not christian. I'm just an "old testament" guy. I call them the Hebrew scriptures. I'm closer to Judaism in my beliefs although I'm not a Jew myself. But I'm visiting my bro because I've got time off work and I want him and his family to meet my wife who has recently moved to this country. Yes, the light of my life, my wife, my joy, meeting my best friend and brother and his funky/cool family. It's been great so far. There have been a few negative moments, but on a whole I believe my wife is happy and is getting along with my brother's family. By the way, my wife's name is Nikki. She is the most beautiful woman, being a source of brightness in my dark world. I thank YHWH Almighty for that girl [YHWH is the name of the Almighty Creator which I pronounce as Yahweh

]. It is not an easy road, as her sister would sing to me. It is not always easy moving my life around to making it into "OUR" life, but it's worth it. It has to be.

OK, I also have my own website. I have to do some more work on it, write some more articles. It is about the scriptures and science and evolution. I personally have found it to be a story based on a religious foundation. I know people call it science, but everyone has their own opinion. It is up to us to find out which is the right one. What religious foundation is evolution built upon? A philosophy, a untestable, unscientific foundation of absolute naturalism, the notion that nature is all there is, or all that can be used to tell us about the universe and its origin. I'm not going to get into it here, but you can check out my stuff if you like. My website is called "Torah Creation" at http://uk.geocities.com/hesedyahu. It is devoted to the worldview of Torah and the plain understanding of it.

Anyway, what can I leave you guys with? Mmmm... I don't want this all to be information about me. I want to leave you with something that can help you. But what? Mmmm...

Being married, I realise that the most important person has to be my wife, in the context of a biblical faith (i.e. The Creator will always be of ultimate importance). No other human. Now there may be distractions and other people that try to claim they have some power over you, but as scripture says, man and wife becomes one flesh, thus a man should love his wife as his own flesh, treating her well. As self-preservation is one of our greatest instincts, so should the protection and welfare of our spouse be one of our greatest instincts. In th

e context of righteousness, put your spouse in the most important human place, learn to give and love to the fullest, know your duties and responsibilities and fulfil them, and then

you will find happiness. It is guaranteed, and I don't doubt it whatsoever. I may be young, but I'm not fool in this department.

Anyway, all the best and enjoy my brother's blog. May the knowledge of YHWH, the Creator of the Universe, cover the earth as water fills the sea.