The Nearness of God

I was walking to church on Sunday morning and I passed workmen laying telephone cables. I think it's a shame that people work on Sundays, I do appreciate that some have no choice such as doctors, nurses, our armed forces etc, but how sad that people have to work when really it's not needful. That isn't however what I was thinking about as I continued on my way it was all the miles and miles of cable there must be, and mobile phone masts, satellites in space and all the rest of it just so that we can talk to one another. And if we don't manage to have a conversation that way we can always text or email, what happened to popping round for a cuppa and a good old chin wag? Ah well that's progress.

But do you know I can talk to God anytime of the day or night and the server doesn't crash!!!!

The nearness of God and the Lord Jesus is amazing, He is not too busy to listen, He doesn't forget that you've asked Him something, and He doesn't cut you off because you have upset Him. God wants us to communicate with Him, we call it prayer, praise, worship etc. Whether we are happy or sad, joyful or sorrowful, whether things are going right or wrong, God wants to hear. He also wants us to listen because He has things He wants to say to us and sometimes He speaks directly into our hearts, sometimes through a sermon or a song, sometimes through other people or situations but always He speaks to us through His written word, the Holy Bible.

Samuel when God first spoke to Him didn't realise it was God he thought it was Eli, once Eli realised that God was speaking to Samuel he instructed him on how to reply. 

1 Samuel 3:10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Not only did Samuel listen to God but he also obeyed Him even though what he had to do was not a pleasant task.

Whatever we have to do or say for the Lord we can be sure that He is nearer to us than our very breath and He won’t let us down, He will enable us.

No matter what we go through He is nearer than our very breath and He will help us and sustain us. How wonderful is our God.

The Appearance of Evil

Two things happened over winter that have stuck in my mind. The first incident was when as I was coming home from church, I wasn't far from home when I had a TIA (mini stoke), I clung on to a wall to steady myself and waited until I felt better before just going round the corner to my home. A gentleman was walking towards me when this happened and looked at me in a rather strange way, he didn't ask if I was alright, he didn't offer any assistance at all but looked rather in disgust. I can only surmise that he thought I had had one to many drinks and that I was finding it hard to walk in a straight line. Needless to say I did get home safe and sound and rested.

The other incident was when I was going for a walk after the bad snow storms, the snow had actually gone what I didn't know was that there were patches of black ice on the Greenway just past the bridge at Marehay. As usual I was going at a steady pace, best foot forward and all that, and as I came off the bridge down I went, I didn't see the ice at all, I had noticed someone walking their dog behind me but they were a distance away. There was no way I could get straight up I had gone down with such force it had rattled all my poor old bones, so I decided I would just sit and wait and if help didn't come then I would try to get up. I noticed at the side of me that something had fallen off my camera in the fall and as I stretched out to retrieve I heard someone shout, "sit still we're coming". How lovely someone was coming to my aid, I did as I was told and sat still till they arrived to help me up. Apparently they hadn't seen my fall but had noticed that someone was just sitting in the middle of the path but what struck me was that they didn't make a rash judgement but were prepared to help. These two incidents made me think about how as Christians we view other people and also how they view us.

We are not supposed to judge people the way the world does, and we are not to judge the people who are in the world but show them the love of Christ, but there are times when we have to make a judgment but it is not our job to condemn but to help. Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. We should not be into finger pointing we never know what will befall us, but we should pray and guide them through the scriptures, 2 Timothy 3:16  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

The first incident reminded me of how we Christians appear to the people of the world, or more to the point how we should appear to the world, Paul in his epistle to the Thessalonians wrote, 1 Thessalonians 5:22  Abstain from all appearance of evil. So not only are we to abstain from evil, but we are not even to give the appearance of it, the gentleman in the first incident had no idea I was ill and appeared to make a judgement that I was a little worse the wear for drink, (I do hope I have not misjudged him). We should be careful in our speech, in what we listen to, watch and read, we should be careful not to laugh at course jokes etc. Our whole attitude should be one of grace, that you may say is a tall order but we are as the scripture says to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit we can not only give the appearance of holiness but be holy.

The most Wonderful Time of theYear

In the words of Johnny Matthias, It's the most wonderful time of the year. And it certainly has been for me and I am so grateful. It all started way back at the end of November 2014 when I was invited to go on a Turkey and Tinsel holiday to Cromer by a friend, all paid for! You can read all about that here: Happy Holidays I had put up my decorations before going so that my home would have a Christmas welcome when I got back. Just over a week later and I was off again this time to Willersley Castle for Turkey and Tinsel which you can read about here: Listening to the Owl's Song which is in two parts.

We had our Carol service on Sunday which was lovely and Alec spoke on Good News of Great Joy which you can read in our 'Thing on these Things' page on our church website, Ripley Elim. Then Christmas day arrived and I was picked up by my son-in-laws parents and we all went off to Emma and Mark's for traditional Christmas dinner, with a game of racing reindeer afterwards,

 we couldn't do it on the track because Juju had chewed it up!! 

I had a lovely time it was really relaxing, well for us guests it was anyway, Mark and Emma had certainly worked hard. 

Boxing Day all our family gathered at Sarah and Adam's for turkey curry, wonderful, yet more lovely food and good company, Huey and Noah my grandchildren showed us all the gifts they had had for Christmas and we had yet another game from the crackers this time racing penguins, again we didn't use the track but let them loose on the table, great fun. 

I went to Emma and Mark's afterwards as I was supposed to be going out with them to Mark's gig. However it started to snow and we just didn't realise how bad it was until later so I decided to go home. Hannah and Phil came to pick me up. Someone was stuck in front of us and so Phil got out to give them a hand and push them, unfortunately our car then decided it would go it alone and started to travel down the road, Phil was soon back and in control, phew.

After that I decided to go back to Mark and Emma's, as they were only round the corner I walked there. Phil and Hannah slowly made their way back home. I stayed with Juju, Emma's Chihuahua, she just kept wanting to go out and play in the snow she’d never seen it before, but it was coming so thick and fast I thought she’d disappear!! She thoroughly enjoyed trying to catch the snow I kept throwing, she obviously wasn’t feeling the cold as much as I was. 

Mark and Emma made it there and back to the gig okay, but they had some hair raising moments. The following morning everywhere looked so beautiful, Emma had to go to work and Mark, Juju and myself walked with her and then I went for a bus.

Not a problem catching one, just a problem getting up them there hills in Belper, three attempts up Chesterfield road and then the driver managed it, not a problem until we came onto Whitemoor estate and up another hill, four attempts but there was no way the bus was going to make it, so back he went and I got off on Chesterfield Road. I decided to walk the five mile home it took about two hours, of course I had to stop to take photos. It was a glorious day and I thoroughly enjoyed my walk. 

A buffet tea at Emma’s on Sunday completed our Christmas festivities.

 I have to say it was one of the best, 

thank you to my lovely family, 

I am so blessed.