A black cloud �What�s wrong with me?� That�s a question I asked myself over ten years of suffering from severe mood swings. They began when I was facing a huge amount of pressure and stress in my early twenties. My mind would just �shutdown.� I was unable to function normally or make simple everyday decisions. I would suddenly be seized with fear and panic, not understanding what was happening to me. After some days, the black cloud of dullness and fear would lift. I would feel nor-mal again, having a lot of energy and enthusiasm. As a teacher, I could even prepare enough classes to cover the times when I knew I would go �down.� On occasions, I would go very high, without realising that I was becoming irrational. It was an emo-tional roller-coaster every few weeks, for my husband and I. We sometimes look back and laugh at some of the things I got up to then. Help Yet many people didn�t understand, or know how to help. It felt very iso-lated. At the start, I thought that my medication didn�t help much. But over the years, it has helped increas-ingly, being changed to suit my cir-cumstances. Now, I hardly notice any ups and downs at all, provided I don�t take on too much and I get enough sleep. Doubt I struggled enormously with my

Christian faith when I was down. I sometimes doubted if God really loved me, or even existed at all! I would long to be reminded of the ba-sics of my faith. So, my husband and friends assured me of God�s great love, that he himself had dealt with my burden of sin and guilt through Jesus� suffering on the cross. These were the times when people helped a lot - talking things through with me, praying for me, and reminding me of the teaching and promises in the Bi-ble. When I was up, our roles were often reversed. Praise There�s a hymn that sums up what I desperately needed to hear whenever I plummeted;

Tell me the old, old story, tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love.

Tell me the story slowly, that I may take it in � that wonderful redemption, God�s remedy for sin. Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon: the early dew of morning has passed away at noon.

I am truly thankful for all the things God has used to bring me through this dark period of my life. The knowl-edge of his faithfulness strengthens my faith.

Tell me, One more time! Elaine Duffy

C o l i n G l e n C h r i s t i a n F e l l o w s h i p

Number 4, June 2003

Tell me the old, old story! 1

“No man is an Ireland” ? 2

What do you know about H2O

3

CGCF Contact details 4

Open House 4

Free cassette tape 4

Visit our website 4

Was it “I” 4

“Quote...Unquote” 4

Inside this issue:

Cross alk

“We are more likely to die of social isolation

than smoking!”

Page 2

“No man is an Ireland” ? John Duffy

Richard J. Daley, former Chicago Mayor, meant to quote poet John Donne who famously wrote; �No man is an is-land,� but instead said �No man is an Ireland.� It�s true that we cannot live without contact with others. Relation-ships are the basis of family, friends, church, communities, business and soci-ety. They can either break us, through isolation or exile, or strengthen us through support, friendship and love.

People need people Brian Keenan found that his hostage years were bearable through his friend-ship with fellow-captive John McCarthy �I remember every moment of our time alone, my time with John and with those other captives. And I remember how we first met, our relationship, the kind of needs I had of John and he of me. And how we sought always to give and take, thinking always of each other.�1

Yet we often take our everyday relation-ships for granted. We can be lonely or isolated among family, friends, or at work, not just when we�re alone. The effects of bad relationships are striking. �Research repeatedly shows that people in stable long-term relationships have better mental health, experience less stress, and can expect to live longer.�2 In fact, we are more likely to die from social isolation than smoking!3

Barriers to relationships Technology and the pace of life fre-quently works against building relation-ships. Text messages, email, Internet chat rooms, allow efficient communica-tion, but without personal contact. Chil-dren increasingly play computer games, instead of with other children. We feel part of society when we have kept up to date with the latest TV soaps, instead of having spent time with others.

Even when we do meet, our relation-ships may not be as positive as we imag-ine. We can easily treat people in posi-tions of responsibility (e.g. salespeople, civil service, etc.) as representatives of a system, but not as individuals too. And while cohabitation is popular, it often

turns out to be a temporary relation-ship, compared to marriage.4 At work, too, we can be treated as �human re-sources,� instead of people.

Investing in people Investing in relationships can transform our lives, but often needs to be a long-term investment. Sometimes, we can simply do things differently, but we can also create opportunities � family meal-times, restrict TV or computer games, keep Sunday special, phone instead of texting or emailing etc. And marriage works best when we put more into it than we try to get out of it.

Radical relationships Jesus� teaching on relationships is radi-cal. �Love your neighbour as yourself�, as the �Good Samaritan� did.5 And to prevent the build up of disappointment and hurt, forgiveness is the key. Not just forgiving your friends, but your enemies too.6

A restored relationship with God is most important. But, for it to be possi-ble, the sin barrier that continually comes between us and him must be dealt with. Jesus has overcome that barrier for us on the cross. If anyone puts their faith in him, they are for-given.7 With the Holy Spirit changing their lives for the better, they will be able to enjoy a faithful, true and mean-ingful relationship with God. This is also the best basis on which to build better relationships with others.

Enjoy… Where there is no enjoyment, a rela-tionship becomes merely functional. How are our relationships with others, and especially with God? 1 Brian Keenan, An Evil Cradling (London: Ran-dom House, 1993) p292 2 M. Schluter & D. J. Lee, The R option � Building Relationships as a better Way of Life (The Relation-ships Foundation, 2003) p109 3 (Mortality rate is 2.0 to 1.6) J. House et al., So-cial Relationships and Health (Science, 29/7/88) 4 (Only 7% last more than ten years, the rest either having broken up or turned into marriage.) R. Berthoud & J. Gershuny, Seven Years in the Lives of British Families (Policy Press, 2000), p39. 5 Luke 10v25-37, 6 Matthew 6v43-44, 7 Hebrews 10v8

“Nature is but a name for an effect,

whose cause is God.”

William Cowper

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the

earth.”

Genesis 1v1 (NIV)

Page 3

You might be tempted to think that a transparent, tasteless and odourless liq-uid would be of little value and yet wa-ter, without question, is one of the most essential ingredients for life. Man can live for weeks without food but only days without water.

Wet, Wet, Wet! Despite its apparent simplicity it has many unique and amazing properties. It can dissolve more substances than any other liquid and as a result plays an es-sential role in many complex chemical reactions including those within the hu-man body, which itself consists of 70% water.

Water Works! When water is heated it absorbs an un-usually large amount of heat. This means that if the same volume of water, iron and brick were to be heated to the same temperature the water would con-tain about five times as much heat en-ergy. This fact, together with its ability to flow through pipes, enables us to use it to transport heat throughout our home within our central heating system and to cool the engine of our car. Water is also able to efficiently conduct heat so ena-bling large amounts of heat to be trans-mitted through large bodies of water. If it were not for these 2 properties Ireland, at almost the same latitude as Moscow, would be much colder during the winter. This is because the Gulf Stream, which sweeps across the Atlantic to Ireland from the warmer region around the West Indies, could neither absorb heat nor store it. Indeed the oceans of the world help regulate the earth's temperature prevent-ing the differences between poles and equator, winter and summer being even greater than they are.

Cold as ice When water freezes it exhibits yet another

amazing property - it expands, unlike most other liquids which shrink. This causes ice to float on its surface rather than sink to the bottom, so helping to insulate the water under-neath. If this did not happen lakes and seas in many places throughout the world would freeze from the bottom up eventually causing all life within them to die.

Frozen or fried? We are also very fortunate that the earth is positioned precisely where it is within the solar system and that its or-bit is almost a perfect circle. If it were just a little closer to the sun water could only exist as vapour and not as liquid. If it were just a little further from the sun all water would freeze, in either case making the earth a barren waste like other planets. The fact that scien-tists are so worried about the effect of global warming of just one or two de-grees shows how ideal the present posi-tion and temperature of the earth is.

What a God! How fortunate we are that a loving God has placed us on a planet perfectly de-signed and positioned for life. If you would like to reflect further on the marvels of creation and the matchless splendour of water land and sky, let us lend you a copy of the (65 min) video entitled 'The wonder of god's Creation'.

What do you know about H2O? Ken Allen

Open House We meet on Friday evenings at the address above, for prayer, praise and a Bible study discussion (tea & coffee too). Join us as we go through the Bible to see what we can learn from it, and how it is relevant to our lives today. Everyone is welcome — just turn up, or ring beforehand for more details. Every Friday 7.30-9.30 pm

The Uniqueness of Christian-ity For a free copy of our tape “The uniqueness of Christianity”, or for an alternative tape in Gaelic, contact us by phone & email etc.

Colin Glen Christian John & Elaine Duffy or Ken & Olive Allen c/o 42A Cloona Park Upper Dunmurry Lane

Phone: (028) 90600323 Phone: 07870 184117 Email: cgcf@supanet.com Web:

Visit our Website For past issues of ‘Crosstalk’, Christian web-site Links, free stuff, etc, go to: www.cgcf,supanet.com

Jesus said: �He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living waters.� John 7:38 NIV

The Uniqueness of Christianity

(J.B. Nicholson)

“Quote… Unquote” “I still haven’t

found what I’m looking for.” Bono

(Joshua Tree album)

“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we

know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character;

and character, hope.” Apostle Paul (Romans 5v3-4)

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be

faint.” Isaiah

(Isaiah 40v31)

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Henry David Thoreau

Was it “I” Lee Donnan

“On and on, does anybody know what we

are living for ?” Freddie Mercury (The show must go on)

“You have formed us for yourself, and our hearts

are restless till they find rest in you.”

Augustine (of Hippo, Africa) “Come to me all you

who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Jesus (Matthew 11:28)

Well once again, I come running back, my soul is refreshed,

and I�m back on track. For a while I�ve been dry,

just lost and confused, and the grace of God,

I feel I�ve abused. I had lost direction, ambition and fire,

from my Christian walk I had begun to tire.

Just caught up in problems, worry and stress,

feeling so insignificant, my life just a mess. And then it hit me,

like a rock from the sky, just how often I use, that selfish word I.

Was it I who preached love to a nation of men?

to be rejected again and again. Was it I who was whipped and then nailed to a tree? for a world steeped in sin

and too blind to see. Oh we think we know suffering,

pain and despair Against the sacrifice of God,

our lives don�t compare. For God gave his Son,

and his heart did grieve, so a pardon from sin,

we would receive. So I return humble

with the vision to see, that its all about Jesus

and not about me.

“I expect to win my battle against cancer, but no

matter how it goes, I’m at peace with God. I can’t lose.”

Steve McQueen