Silver Birches
Page 18
The third thing is about this letter and why I’m going to send it to Angela to give to you. I’m not totally sure myself why I want to do that, except that she was a big part of the days when it all started for us, wasn’t she? Part of us getting converted, whatever that meant — words are getting sillier and sillier by the hour — and part of you and me coming together a bit later on. You fancied Angela something rotten in the old days, didn’t you? You can smile! I do hope you’re blushing as well, David Herrick. Mind you, you weren’t alone, I can assure you. Most of the boys turned into little tail-wagging puppies every time she looked at them or spoke to them. I didn’t mind. She was lovely, and she was my bestest friend coming up through school. Always so confident and strong and sweet-natured with it. Over the last few years our lives only touched through Christmas cards, as you know, but she’s never stopped being special to me. Somehow, she seems the obvious person to send this to. I’m going to ask her to give you this letter a few months after I’m gone, at a moment that seems absolutely right to her. I have no idea how she’ll organize it, but you and I know that Angela always did have her own interesting way of doing things. I expect I’ll speak to her on the phone, but I’ve told her in my letter not to reply to me in case you find it. I want this to be a surprise and a comfort to you, my darling, hopefully at a time when you really need it. Do give dear Angela a hug and a kiss for me.
Here’s my fourth point. Have you got fed up with the rain and gone inside somewhere now? David, please go on telling people about Jesus. Go on telling the truth and helping people to understand that God loves them. We can only be good and obedient when we know we’re loved, can’t we, and that’s the job God’s specially given you. To make sure that all the silliness and the messing about doesn’t cover up the fact that the best and most important thing in the world is waiting for us if we really want it. Let’s face it, I shall be personally proving how important it is at the precise moment when you read this sentence! Be angry, be sad, rave and rage at God about losing me, if you have to, but don’t ever stop telling the truth, my darling. I know you’ve always felt inadequate when you’ve been silly enough to measure yourself against your message, but that’s why people listen to you. I had a dream about you and Jesus last night, that I’m not allowed to tell you about, but I can tell you that it would make you cry and it would make you very happy, a bit like your silly old films. I know where your heart is — so do you.
I’m running out of oomph, my dear friend — husband — lots of things. I’d like to write love love love love love all over a blank page, but it would just look silly. I’m ever so tired. Do something for me. Close your eyes and pretend you’re holding my hand for a moment. Did you do that? So did I. God bless, sweetheart. You sleep well tonight.
Jessica
P.S. David, you haven’t forgotten to water my plants, have you?
Adrian Plass is one of today’s most significant and successful Christian authors and speakers. Among his many popular books are The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37 ¾; The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, Christian Speaker Aged 45 ¾; The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, on Tour; The Theatrical Tapes of Leonard Thynn; The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal; The Growing-up Pains of Adrian Plass; And Jesus Will Be Born; The Final Boundary; View from a Bouncy Castle; The Visit; A Year at St. Yorick’s; Stress Family Robinson; and Jesus—Safe, Tender, Extreme. Known for his ability to evoke both tears and laughter, he has been reaching the hearts of thousands for more than twenty years. He lives in East Sussex, England, with his wife, Bridget.
Also by Adrian Plass
A Year at St Yorick’s
Adrian Plass Classics
An Alien at St Wilfred’s
And Jesus Will Be Born
Clearing Away the Rubbish
Colours of Survival (with Bridget Plass)
From Growing Up Pains to the Sacred Diary
The Heart of the Family
Jesus: Safe, Tender, Extreme
Never Mind the Reversing Ducks
Nothing but the Truth
The Sacred Diaries of Adrian, Andromeda and Leonard
The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, On Tour
The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, Aged 37 ¾
The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, Christian Speaker, Aged 45 ¾
Stress Family Robinson
Stress Family Robinson 2: The Birthday Party
The Visit
Why I Follow Jesus
You Say Tomato (with Paul McCusker)
Jesus — Safe, Tender, Extreme
Adrian Plass
Evocative reflections on three facets in our relationship with Jesus.
People long for reality in their walk with Christ. To know him better, we must understand the different sides of his complex nature. Popular British author Adrian Plass draws on biblical stories and personal experience — as well as his keen understanding of people’s needs — as he explores the Safe Jesus, the Tender Jesus, and the Extreme Jesus. God has told us that he holds us in the palm of his hands, where no one and nothing can harm the most important part of us. But from biblical times to the present day, Christians encounter accidents and disasters. What does it really mean to experience the Safe Jesus? Jesus tells his disciples that they must love one another. Yet time and again we try to find achievement and success through our own efforts and individual gifts, only to end in failure. Instead, we need to know the Tender Jesus who becomes visible when we join with each other in the body of Christ. Jesus only did what he saw his father doing. Each of his actions and encounters were fueled, informed, and instructed by the dynamic, creative, unpredictable Spirit of God. Failing to be obedient in this way is what truly constitutes sin. When we are open to the genuine leading of the Spirit, we will experience the Extreme Jesus.
In Jesus — Safe, Tender, Extreme, Adrian Plass is “simply a man with a broom, sweeping away the rubbish that prevents others from passing further in and further up, by talking about what Jesus does and doesn’t do in my life.”
Hardcover, Jacketed: 978-0-310-25784-4
And Jesus Will Be Born
A Collection of Christmas Poems, Stories and Reflections
Adrian Plass
In this gentle and humorous anthology of poems, stories, commentary and reflections, Adrian Plass invites us to celebrate Christmas in its many facets. And Jesus Will Be Born is a holiday cornucopia filled with the laughter, tears, family foibles, simple joys and the rich blessings of the season.
There’s no predicting what the turn of a page will bring in this Christmas collection by Adrian Plass. It may be a bit of verse to moisten the eyes . . .
Then again, there is this — an ‘advertisement’ from Plass’s spoof of a church newsletter:
‘How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news? The answer is — not very, if they haven’t had those ugly corns treated. Christian chiropodist. Special Yuletide reductions . . . ’
Setting the poignant, the madcap, the joyous and the tender in artful counterpoint, this is a book to be savored over the entire holiday season. It offers something for everyone in every setting — family readings, personal libraries and even church pulpits.
And Jesus Will Be Born speaks to the full spectrum of our humanity, celebrating the golden Christmas traditions, poking playfully at our seasonal foibles, observing our less-than-noble attitudes with an eye that is at once honest and gracious — and always looking towards the Person around whom all that is truly Christmas revolves.
In the midst of our festivities, Adrian Plass gently reminds us why we need a Savior. And he points us towards the unfathomable possibilities that have been opened to us, and the joy and hope that are ours, because Jesus was born long ago in Bethlehem and is born today in us.
Hardcover, Jacketed: 978-0-00-713051-1
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