My prayer life has changed over recent years, I'm careful not to use the word evolved as that denotes improved, but it has simply adapted to the changing circumstances, sometimes driven by recommendation and sometimes just a simple desire to understand more of the faith I am a part of.

To help with this I have used different methods, I started by randomly opening the bible at a passage, reading it then praying on it. Then I started a book written by John Stott, 'Through the Bible, Through the Year. I would make lists of things I wanted to ask for and at other times I would just randomly start talking to God as though he was in the room next to me. Today I use reflections for daily prayer, which provides a daily reading from Psalms along with a reading from both the Old Testament and The New Testament. It also provides some reflective text on either the OT or NT.

But in between all this I would regularly read my Bible In One Year (BIOY) prepared by Nicky Gumbel from Holy Trinity Brompton. It's free and after a simple registration you can either receive the daily e-mails or download the App (BIOY).

http://www.htb.org.uk/bioy

I don't now generally have time to read them, but today's was particularly interesting for me. I would like to respectfully share todays readings commentary, with full credit to Nicky Gumbel.

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How to Avoid the Titanic Mistake

James Cameron, producer of the movie Titanic, says, ‘The Titanic is a metaphor of life. We are all on the Titanic.’

When the Titanic set sail in 1912 it was declared to be ‘unsinkable’ because it was constructed using a new technology. The ship’s hull was divided into sixteen watertight compartments. Up to four of these compartments could be damaged or even flooded, and still the ship would float.

Tragically, the Titanic sank on 15 April 1912 at 2.20am. 1,513 people lost their lives. At the time it was thought that five of its watertight compartments had been ruptured in a collision with an iceberg.

However, on 1 September 1985, when the wreck of the Titanic was found lying upright on the ocean floor, there was no sign of the long gash previously thought to have been ripped in the ship’s hull. Now scientists posit that the collision’s impact buckled or loosened the seams in the adjacent hull plate’s core, causing them to separate and allowing water to flood in – thus sinking the unsinkable ship. What they discovered was that damage to one compartment affected all the rest.

Many people make the Titanic mistake. They think they can divide their lives into different ‘compartments’ and that what they do in one will not affect the rest. However, as Rick Warren (from whom I have taken this illustration) says, ‘A life of integrity is one that is not divided into compartments.’

Jesus was described as a ‘man of integrity’ (Matthew 22:16; Mark 12:14). David led the people with ‘integrity of heart’ (Psalm 78:72). The writer of Chronicles says that God tests the ‘heart’ and is ‘pleased with integrity’ (1 Chronicles 29:17). 

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It caused me to think further, as part of my journey as an Ordinand to Ordination I find myself compartmentalising my life, 

1. Family (the most important), 

2. Work (My sense of purpose)

3. Christianity including Church and College. 

For those who may question my order of priorities, no this isn't an accident, neither does Church and college equate to God, he is above all and in all. But that is a separate discussion which I will avoid for now.

It is often a struggle to keep the three worlds going without some form of feeling torn, for as soon as I get a rest from one the other is calling me, following me around all the time is a guilt of not spending enough time with each. It is a daily battle and one I am coming to terms with.

I offer no words of wisdom, nor an answer to this predicament but as I said at the start of these blogs, I wanted to share some of my journey to ordination and not just the good bits. The journey presents more questions than answers, maybe in a future blog I can share the path to wisdom and how I managed this particular challenge.

How you you manage your life? Do you find yourself keeping it all together in one place or do you often find your life divided into compartments?

I think the main aim of this piece from BIOY is where people are living without integrity from the obvious, for example adultery, I am of course not seeing the passage in this way, just the everyday different roles I play in life. But don'w we all revolve around various roles, mum, dad, son, daughter, sister, brother, director, manager, nurse, doctor, servant, master etc. 

Maybe I should be reading the book mentioned by Nicky, 'A life of integrity is one that is not divided into compartments', Rick Warren

http://www.htb.org.uk/bioy/commentary/850