Lockdown Hair and Eternal Questions

Lockdown Hair and Eternal Identity

I never expected lockdown to last this long and this week, we were finally driven to getting out the hairdressing clippers (although not on me)! I’ve hurt my shoulder so had to abandon my controlling instincts and let Johnny loose on his brother Connor’s hair. I confess to a touch of concern when Johnny revealed that his preparation was a 4 minute you-tube video. It turned out OK though the haircut is a little sketchy viewed close up! Johnny is facing allegations of hypocrisy in that he refuses to allow Connor a return match.

So what are you going to look like at the end of lockdown? Will there be any difference on the inside if not the outside?

For many of us, much of what makes up our identity has been stripped away, whether it is work or friendship groups or health or simply the routines that carved out the boundaries of life. I am writing my new book on being eternally minded and asking, “What endures?” and “What cannot be stripped away?”

Here is an identity that endures – you are a beloved child of God! Forever! Whatever else we may lose, this cannot be taken away. He loved us before the foundation of the world, he loves us today and he has made us his children for all eternity. When all else fails, this love endures (Jeremiah 31:3). Because he never began to love us, we can be sure that he will never stop.

And this isn’t a socially distant love! We may have to stay apart but our Father is a hugging Father., who throws his arms around us and kisses us (Luke 15:20).

As you read this, ask the Father to fill you with his Holy Spirit of adoption, who cries deep within us, “Abba, daddy, papa, father” and evicts all fear.

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption - by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15

Here is deep security whatever is being shaken around you.

Our world has been shaken by Covid19. Here is the reality of our mortality. We are faced with recession. How will we respond personally and to those around us? Many people are asking eternal questions.  Johnny wrote a piece about this for The Independent  – I think it’s a sign of a new spiritual hunger that what he wrote made its way into the secular press.

God is at work in our nation. He is calling the church to pray as never before. I If you haven’t seen it, please do look at the wonderful UK Blessing Song which gathered a million views in its first day! Despite lockdown, God is uniting his people to pray down blessing and to be a blessing. Here are thoughts on why God’s blessing is more infectious than Covid19!

I pray that we will come out of this crisis looking different – not because of a haircut - but because we’ve rooted ourselves so deeply in the everlasting love of the Father that we cannot stop ourselves sharing it with a world that so desperately needs it.

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