Twas the year.......

I remember so clearly sitting last year this time wondering what 2013 would hold in store for me personally but also for the world at large. What I can say for sure is that it truly was a momentous year of celebrating milestones and rejoicing in new beginnings.

This year I celebrated my 40^th birthday and 20 years in Gauteng. What were the new beginnings? A new department and new line of work. New opportunities to expand income streams. New book and the opportunities that brings. New coffee machine (tee hee). New friendships for which I am grateful!

For all of these new beginnings I can rejoice in God's goodness and grace and thank Him for the wonderful work that He has done. Truth be told, regardless of these wonderful changes, none of these have yet born fruit of which to boast. At best they helped me turn the corner and ensure that my life is now heading in a new direction. That is pretty much how life and aspects of change work. We first have to turn the corner before we can engage the path that lies ahead of us.

As a nation we said a sad farewell to our former State President at age 95. What other notable events took place this year? A super typhoon ravaged the Philippines. The US government shut its doors for several days. Terrorists attacked a Kenyan mall. Microsoft bought Nokia (how come I missed that one?). Scientists successfully cloned human stem cells. A Bangladesh factory collapsed. Boston Marathon bombings. Margaret Thatcher died at 87. Meteorites injured hundreds in Russia. Pope Benedict XVI resigned.

Not so peachy, but most of these events had us glued to our TV screens during the year. Moments of triumph and moments of failure come to us all and when we are ready, God births a great work within each of us. The great works do not last for a moment but rather last through a lifetime.

Have you discovered God's plan for your 2014 yet? Maybe you need to change direction. If so realize that this kind of change can take an entire year to effect. Maybe you need to build on what God has done in a prior year. Commit to that work and stay focused in God. Maybe you just need to recover from a moment of devastation. Know that God will work with you to heal and restore that which was damaged.

As we give thanks and celebrate the year that was, give thanks to God for His goodness and know that 2014 will bring with it unique and wonderful blessings and joys.

God bless and Happy New Year!

Christmas 2013

In a world filled with tragedy and despair we hold the hope of mankind in our hands this Christmas! Let us be that hope to all we encounter this Christmas and share God's love in every way we possibly can.

When Christmas trees and Christmas songs
Raise the hope that Christ has come
Let God's blessings arise
And bring surprise
That God is great
And never late

Our dreams He sees
And supplies our needs
But more than that
He blesses that within our hearts
Now let Christ's birth song
Move us along
To be God's blessing in the world

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Drama drama drama

With the holiday now well under way I was looking forward to a relaxed bus trip to Durban. Alas, the smooth morning I had planned went horribly wrong.  Sandton station parking garage was full so I had no choice but to do an emergency parking at Nelson Mandela Square.  I ran to the station and as I arrived at the platform to get onto the Gautrain I could not get onto the train that was there as it was completely over crowded.

An agonizing 20 odd minutes later I caught the next train and made it to Park Station with only 15 minutes to spare and I still had to get my ticket.  Thankfully the Greyhound is always a few minutes late and I boarded safely and we were on our way to Durban.

Sadly leaving Joburg we passed by a horrific car crash and I honestly think that no on could have survived that crash.  Year after year our festive season is marred by the news of hundreds and often over a thousand people who loose their lives due to motor car accidents.  It baffles me that the transport services in South Africa as simply not able to keep pace with demand.

That being said what are the two biggest killers on our roads?  Speed and alcohol!  Why is it that we always have to rush our trips?  I think it is due to a lack of planning.  I did it myself today, I failed to plan for the unexpected.

That happens in our spiritual lives too.  We are ambling along nicely when out of the blue we crash into problems.  The amazing thing about these trials is that they happen in multiples.  The book of James is such a great guide in times like these as it trains us to look at our problems with different eyes. James teaches us to know that trials test our faith and build character.

So as I've settled in for the long ride to Durban, join me in settling to the fact that trials are a part of life and as we do that we are able to learn and grow from them more quickly.

Lessons from Tomatoes

The one thing I love about gardening is that you can try things over and over again until you get it right. Last year my Tomato patch collapsed the fence it was growing against because I had too many plants in one patch. This year I have thinned things out and added some poles for them to grow against, but admittedly the poles were an after-thought and although they are holding for now, I think chances are that they could collapse if faced with a really rough storm.

The thought crossed my mind today that if I fail with this batch again, I think I will have found the perfect plan. Plant the poles first and make sure they are stable, then align the plants accordingly and train them to grow up the poles.

Growing in our relationship with God is much the same. In the beginning we throw everything into our efforts to connect with God and get to know Him, but we find we are left with a bit of a mangled mess. Some aspects of our faith walk become strong and grow but our support structure isn't strong enough so our efforts fail.

As we grow we learn, then as we learn we implement our successes and would you know it, after some tries we eventually find that our faith walk is far more comfortable and we are able to remain steadfast in our belief in God.

If you have suffered recent failure in your relationship with God and wondering if is worth trying again, please do! God's grace is rich towards us and when we allow Him too He will send His Holy Spirit to hold us and comfort us and give us strength to try again!

A place to lie

The time of year arrived once again for me to make up the guest bed downstairs for when those hot summer nights kick in. The last two nights haven't been too bad so I was able to crash back in my bed and boy what a difference. You only appreciate a good mattress when you have to endure something a little less than perfect.

This realization and reminder fills my heart with gratitude as I know there are probably billions of people in the world who live in abject poverty. I have such a strong longing to see that changed and I pray that one day I will be able to help others to change their lives for the better and meet those basic needs.

I know that Mary's mind must have longed for home the very moment she felt those labour pains begin. Though her circumstances were dire scripture makes no record of her ever complaining. I believe it is because of her heart attitude. From the moment the Angel Gabriel first announced her fate and that she would conceive a child, we hear only one statement, “Let it be unto me according to thy will.”

Mary's acceptance of her destiny gave her the strength to bare whatever circumstances were thrown at her, for she knew that she was walking in the perfect will of God and that nothing would happen to her from that moment on that was outside of God's will for her life.

Whatever test, trial, hardship or pain you may be facing right now, give thanks to God for His goodness and believe in your heart that you are in the perfect will of God and that your current situation is temporary. In the same way the Angels came down from Heaven to sing and praise God for the birth of His Son, God's glory will surely shine on you too!

Day breaks call

As evening fell on Saturday a violent storm erupted. It was short but devastating and the effects can still be seen. It was almost as if our highveld sky was angry at the departure of our much loved former president as he made the final leg of his journey back to Qunu for his burial service on Sunday. As the media has said it was the end of a very long walk to freedom.

Although I did not watch the full ceremony I admit that I was choked up as the motorcade made their way and his coffin was carried to his final resting place. BUT as sure as the day breaks each morning this world of ours will keep turning and we have to ask ourselves what our own legacies will be on this world? Are we going to do what we can to make it a better place?

Jesus disciples knew that once the great commission had been sounded that their every day would be consumed by their passion for His message and what it meant for all mankind. As the time approaches for us to once again celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus can we awake to the call to make an impact on our world today?

My name is Bond

My name is Bond, Kitty Bond! And I'm licensed to squirt you with my water gun! Lol! Both my neighbours have cute little kitty munch-kins and while I adore them both, I don't want them coming into my yard or house and disrupting my little cat family. I thus decided that a water gun might be a good deterrent and I'm giving it a try.

A strange thing happens to us once we've lost an immediate family member. Any time you hear of someone who has passed that has had some sort of impact on your life, the sting of your own personal loss definitely hurts once again, even if just for a short while.

With all the sadness our country has experienced this past week I felt I needed a light hearted moment of reflection. One thing I do remember from the months after my father died was that amidst all the moments of crying there was a passion ignited in me to live life to the full, with every moment and every breath that I could.

My prayer for our country is that the sting of our loss will awaken in us a passion to fight for our country! For justice, for peace, for security and safety and an end to corruption.

Techno basics

Show me a new computer system and my eyes twinkle. That's what our team did today, we saw a presentation about how to take some of our procurement processes and automate them. Joy and happiness! Anything that is going to make my life easier is a welcome addition.

Strangely in our computer driven age, the good old art of typing is no longer taught. I find this odd especially seeing as the computer key board is a typewriter adaptation. So why do we not teach the typing skills necessary to make operating these devices so much simpler?

I think it is because we put the cart before the horse. We forget that building good knowledge foundations allows us to build platforms upon which to create the technology we need to function more efficiently. I wonder if the same could be said about our faith?

I think it is as much a spiritual problem today as our technical development is. We want to be spiritual giants and achieve great things for God, but most selfishly of all we want spiritual greatness for our own benefit. We forget that Revelation can only come from deep commitment to reading God's word and growing in our knowledge of the basic things like prayer, fellowship and communion with God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God!

Simply put, the just shall live by faith!

A speech worth remembering

I'm pretty sure that as the thousands of people who braved the cold, wet and miserable conditions in the FNB stadium rose to applaud, celebrate and remember the life of a remarkable man, Nelson Mandela, so too the grandstands in heaven must have risen to join them.

I know that throughout the world today, many tuned in to their television stations to watch the speech delivered by The United States of America President, Mr Barak Obama. With great eloquence he spoke of the characteristics that made Mandela a much loved hero the world over.

If there is one skill that has marked some of the greatest leaders in history it would be their great oratory skill. Lincoln's Gettysburg address, Churchill's “we'll fight them on the beaches”, Martin Luther King's “I have a dream” speeches have all been recorded and remembered.

Jesus was one of the greatest orator's of His time. Today we scoff at a crowd of 5000 but caste your mind back 2000 years ago and remember the era as it was. Drawing a crowd of 5000 at that time was a remarkable feat. How did they all even hear a word He said? Well as creator of our world He knew that wood and water both carry and amplify sound. Does the small boat on the water make more sense now?

BUT of all the words ever spoken, no sentence has radically changed more lives than the simple words Jesus spoke on the cross before He died, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” As Christians we stand in right relationship with God only because of those words.

Words do have power! Choose to use them wisely!

Transformed!

Hearing about all the international presidents, past and present, as well as all the celebrities who are flying into our country to come and attend either the memorial service of burial service of our former State President, Mr Nelson Mandela, is truly touching and remarkable. They stand as a testament to the impact this one man has made on our planet earth.

When we ask ourselves what it took to achieve this, one word stand out: Transformation!

How different the result would have been if Mandela had held onto the bitterness, hatred and anger that he surely must have felt at some time during his many years of incarceration at Robin Island. I know for sure that he would have had to dig deep, very deep, to find it in his heart to forgive those who had treated him unjustly.

He did however succeed and because of that, we as South Africans enjoy the full freedom to live out our lives as we choose, not bound by any laws that could limit any good action.

Jesus lived a life that was honourable to God in every way and yet he died as a criminal. Jesus could easily have chosen the path of hatred and anger, but He chose to submit His will to the will of His Father and submitted Himself to death. He rose on the third day as a triumphant, victorious King and the transformation He underwent paved the path for our eternal victory over death. Though our bodies wilt, our spirits are strong and we will live in the fullness of God's victory over death.

Oh death, where is your sting, for our spirits are renewed in Christ and we will reign with Him, forevermore!

A Great South African

The announcement on the 5th of December of the death of our country's first African President, his honourable Mr. Nelson Mandela, has left a gap in the hearts of many South Africans.

The sacrifice and dedication of this man who gave his life for the fight for the equality of all South Africans both black, white, coloured and indian has made a mark on not only our country but the world over.

Though we will miss his physical presence amongst us we have a legacy of wisdom, forgiveness and compassion that he has left with us.

We can give thanks to God for the wonderful gift which He bestowed on us when He gave us a leader willing to serve his nation, even if that service would have led to death.

In loving memory of Nelson Mandela!

Family First

My cousin Nicholas' wedding to Jonette on Friday was an awesome family event.  With the weather being a bit colder than expected the warmth of family love truly did shine through.

Jonette's family are a really bubbly bunch and they brought to the wedding their own unique boer flavour with fun activities that brought laughter to us all.

One thing that was evident to all, this young couple have got many fun loving and exciting years ahead of them.

God's love brings with it the hope of joy, grace, peace and kindness and when we learn to walk in His love our joy is made full!

Congratulations Nick and Jonette!

Rushing for a reason

After an all day power outage I sadly had to throw away a lot of good food. The time wasted on this was frustraiting knowing that tomorrow night will be busy and I needed to get as much done as possible.

Tomorrow night I will need to pack to prepare to go to Pretoria on Thursday evening with my mom and sister, who will both be arriving by bus on Thursday afternoon. What's the occasion? My cousin will be getting married on Friday evening, so we are all looking forward to a wonderful wedding celebration and time spent with family.

So to Nicholas and Jonette, it is only two more sleeps......enjoy these last few moments of singleness because you are about to embark on a lifetime of togetherness! We rejoice that God has brought you together and cannot wait to see what wonderful things lie ahead!

Flying to the light

This weekend I heard much wild chirping and saw Honey peering up at the patio ceiling making his little ma-a-a-a-ah noises, which usually accompanies the sighting of prey. I grabbed him and turned around to see a young bird clinging to the bricks and fluttering around in terror.

Stressed out myself, I called on my neighbour to assist me with the drama while putting Honey back in the house. She very wisely told me that the young bird would fly towards the light and that we should just back off and allow it some time to find its bearings.

Sure enough, a few moments later the little thing flew down and out it went. I learned a good and valuable lesson about bird behaviour that day! More so it got me thinking about the parable Jesus told about the city on the hill. Jesus said that a city on a hill cannot be hidden and that as we shine our light we will draw others to Him.

Having seen this, to me, new bird behaviour it started to make so much more sense. There are so many hurting people out there just looking for a way of escape, a way to flee depression, heartache and anger. When we are the light of the world we show others that way of escape through our relationship with Jesus!

Will you shine your light and let others see Jesus today?

Over the rainbow

On Tuesday evening after my massage, I drove to the gym to to have a quick swim and a steam to soothe my muscles after the massage. As I drove there a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky and it was a full, complete rainbow, end to end. God has always blessed me with signs when good things are about to happen and a complete rainbow most certainly heralded the fulfillment of a promise from God.

On Wednesday evening my first copy of my book arrived :-) I was absolutely delighted! I was just surprised as I had been expecting to get a copy of each format, i.e. soft cover and hard cover and only the soft cover arrived.

Tonight however as I arrived home, the security guard came to me and handed me the second package, they had been packaged seperately. There it was, the beautiful hard cover I had been waiting for... oh what joy!

I feel that God has said that this will be the first of many books in the future and I hold on to that promise in faith! God is good and when we commit ourselves to do what He has lead us to do, He will keep His promise and bless us!

Hold onto God's promises to you!

My favourite 30 minutes

My favourite 30 minutes of each month by far are the 30 minutes that I get to spend having my back and neck massage. I used to struggle with Migraines a lot and since I started with the massages they have really become less frequent and less painful. The secret is not allowing the stress to build up for too long before it is treated. It is a feeling of being cared for.

Caring for others is a vital part of our Christian walk and especially when we know someone who is hurting due to difficulties or trials that they may be facing. When we come along side them and help them through the difficult situation they are facing, we prove God's love for them and help them to see the reality that God is real.

Some people are afraid to get involved in those situations because they are scared of being sucked into other peoples problems, but what they don't know is that when we do offer love and support we allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us to the other person like an electric chord carrying electricity to a piece of equipment. The wonderful blessing of that is that it means that at the same time you are helping others you are also recharging your own spiritual batteries.

If you know someone in need of love and care, don't be afraid to give of yourself. God will bless you richly for your kindness and the Holy Spirit will come along side you to strengthen you as you minister to others.

Stumped

I'll admit that Revelation 8 had me stumped. Between all the seals and the trumpets and all the doom and gloom I was struggling to find something positive. Ever the optimist though I determined to dig until I found it.

Then Revelation 8:4 caught my eye, “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.” Imagine that! Our prayers going up to God like incense. Notice one word in particular.....ascended.

What are some of the laws of nature? What goes up must come down. It requires more effort to raise an object than to lower it. Don't we often wonder why it is taking God so long to answer our prayers? Excuse the creative license if I must, but could we not assume that the reason it seems so long is because it takes longer for the request to ascend than for the reply to come back down?

I'm not stating this as a spiritual law but rather a creative way to see what happens during the process of our prayers being answered. We should take heart and not loose faith when it seems that the solution is taking a while, but rather patiently wait for God to receive our request and to find the best solution before sending the answer back down to us.

Have faith in God!

Rings of kindness

There can be no greater joy than seeing two people that are so wonderfully suited to each other getting married!  So to Paul and Karren, congratulations again on your nuptules!

The sermon was interesting as the Pastor not only spoke about love and patience, which are pretty much what you'd expect, but he spoke about kindness in marriage too.

I think the role of kindness in marriage has been so ignored and it really got me thinking.  How often in a fit of anger have we spoken words that cut and hurt, whereas had we taken time to cool down and think things through we may have been able to put things a little differently and may have avoided a lot of hurt.

Let us try to learn to stop and remember how to be more kind in our relationships.

Growing with God by Ronwyn - Everyday God

Praise God, it's here!
Growing with God by Ronwyn - Everyday God has been released online and can be purchased from a number of sites.

www.authorhouse.co.uk
Search for Ronwyn Hughes  OR  ISBN 9871491882955
Format available:  Hard cover & Soft Cover

www.amazon.com
Search for Ronwyn Hughes  OR  ISBN 9871491882955
Format available:  Hard cover & Soft Cover
Currently offering free deliver for orders over $35 which would apply to the hard cover copy

www.kalahari.com
Search for Ronwyn Hughes
Format available: e-book - under R50
You can also purchase gift vouchers if you are wanting to sponsor an e-book for a friend.
You will need to install Adobe Digital Edition, but you will be guided through the process by the Kalahari site.  Look for the Digital Library icon once your purchase has been confirmed.

I hope that you will consider popping one in a stocking for your loved ones and friends.  I will also be posting links to these sites on Facebook and Twitter!

Thank you to all of you who have been following my blog for the past few years, I have valued your support and interaction.  The book has much new content to it so I pray that it will be a blessing to you!

If you have any problems or queries you can write to me at: GWG.Ronwyn@gmail.com
Please note that I only read these mails once a day, so please be patient. 

Early Merry Christmas everybody and much love from me!

Ronwyn

Take it

So it happened again, my garnet ring has disappeared. Worst of all I can't remember when last I actually felt it on my hand and I made MANY stops along the route home as well as playing in the garden at dusk. Chances are this time it is lost for good.

Strangely, this time although I feel sad and concerned I have decided that I am not going to let my emotions get dragged down the rabbit hole of worry and anger. That is what HE wants me to do and I'm not going to give the LIAR a moments mention.

If I do find it this time it will be by God's grace and design and if not, then I pray that someone will find it and that it will bless them as much as it did me. Honestly in the grand scheme of things considering the loss that thousands of Filipino's have experienced in these most recent storms, this is a small loss.

Whatever you are going through right now, stop and take a deep breath. Don't allow the deceiver to steal your strength and joy. Rejoice in God for He has planned every day and every trial, big or small, is no competition for God's great love and providence towards you!

Almost chucked

I have a favourite little black skirt that I have had for some time. After a particular wash load I think I foolishly tried to iron the thing and it ended up with some shiny marks on it, which I thought would not come out. I chucked it into my wardrobe on the 'throw away' pile.

Some time later I spotted a similar spot on another garment. In agitation I rubbed it and would you believe it but the mark came out! I was so surprised! Wondering if it would work on my black skirt too, I dug it out of the cupboard and gave it a good rubbing. Wow again, it also lost its shiny spot.

Well gee there are two morals to this story. 1 – Not all friction is bad, sometimes it can end up rubbing away nasty stains in our lives that we just could not have gotten rid of any other way. 2 – Be careful what you chuck away in life. It may be a friendship, relationship, faith, patience, trust, belief or almost anything valuable here counts. You may well be chucking out something that could still serve you well for a very long time.

Kitty Sitter

After all the years that I have stressed about having people look after my babies when I'm away, I finally got to return the favour when my neighbour went away this weekend.  Baby Leila came to be with her new mommy a little sooner than normal as she had been rejected by her birth mother, so she is now only about 6-8 weeks old.  My goodness what a feisty little thing.  Each time I popped in for a visit, which was quite often, she would only cuddle for about a minute or so before the claws came out and it was time to start play.

She tumbled and chased anything that moved and I was reminded of how energetic and playful kittens are.  I remember many nights waking up to the sound of... Ka duf ka duf ka duf, as my two chased around the room in the wee hours of the morning, leaving me rather grumpy the next day!  :-)

What really surprised me though was how truly self sufficient this little thing was even at this early age.  The one thing I did realize that really warmed my heart is how much my cats have learned to not only receive love and affection but give it back too.

I think we are all like that when we first accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.  At first we claw and jump to get out of God's arms simply because we have not yet developed the capacity to love Him yet.  As we grow we learn to receive His love and give it back in the form of worship.  That is all part of spiritual maturity and Growing in God!

Approved

Approval is such an amazing blessing!  My thoughts today turn to the image of Jesus rising from the waters of baptism and hearing the words, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant."   

Today was a day for celebrating! The final proofs on the book were approved today and now the publishing process can begin. Sending the mail to say 'Approved' was one of the most joyous moments I've had in a long time and knowing that three years worth of work has now resulted in a product I can be proud of is the most wonderful and amazing feeling ever.  In that moment so many of memories flooded my mind of the road I've walked on as I have shared my life and thoughts with colleagues, friends and family. I now know that there will still be wonderful moments ahead as we get the book to go live online.

I'll be honest, hard copy books aren't cheap and paying for a print on demand service is not the most cost effective, but the e-book is very affordable and I am hoping that many of you will make use of that option.  The roll out will first commence with the book going online with the Authorhouse website and then later other local sites like Kalahari, but I'll ensure that I keep you updated along the way. God is good and His mercies are new every morning, so let us celebrate together with the hope of good things to come. 

Wild things 1 – Ronwyn O

My poor garden hasn't quite had the amount of attention from me this year as it had last year, but I intend to catch up soon. The problem now is that the weeds and grass are taking over again in an area I thought I had eliminated them from.

Mmpf! Sound familiar with anything else? I find the weeds in my emotional life are the irritations I allow my mind to brood over for hours on end. My preference would be to blow my top and be done with that, but lost tempers help no-one, nor are they socially acceptable these days.

Can this problem be solved or beaten? Sure, remember that nothing in life is permanent and a time will come when you will not have to stress about them any more. I think if Revelations 7:17 could well apply here.....”and God shall wipe every tear away from their eyes.” We usually think of this as only applying to sorrow and grief but I think this applies equally to anything that causes emotional pain or hurt as well.

When we are able to let go of the tribulations of our past, which includes all incidents 7 seven seconds ago, then we will be able to join the multitudes of nations and angels and bow before God in worship.

All of the horses

Mention horses and warriors and images of gallant solders in iron clad suite waging war with shields, swords and spears comes to mind. I'm pretty sure that is similar to the pictures that John was seeing in the events that unfolded in Revelations 6.

We cannot with absolute certainty declare the meaning of the many seals mentioned, but one thing is clear and that is that there is a battle for souls taking place on this earth. None of the calamities mentioned are new to the human experience. What we can see for sure is that there is one horse and rider with a crown who is waging a war for our souls. His name is Jesus.

How does that help me if I'm stuck in traffic, late for work and feeling stressed out? It helps because I know someone else is out there fighting the real spiritual battles for me so I can put my head down, work hard and do my utmost to deliver my best and hopefully with as little complaining as possible.

We are told in life to pick our battles and this is where it counts. When the chips are down, you can easily get discouraged, frustrated and down right angry, but going down that path does not lead to victory. If we make up our mind to focus forward on what is important then we can rise above all, deliver our best and conquer our world!

Got my ear

Ouch!  When God decides to put a finger on your heart you'll definitely know it!

He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  It is so easy to preach to others about what they should do, so when the Spirit of conviction comes, the experience can be rather painful!  Hearing and listening are most certainly two different things.

I'm sure we have all heard it said at some point that it is not what you say but how you say it that is important, so why do we forget this so quickly?  I think it is because deep down inside we are all hurting in one way or another and one of our biggest defensive weapons is talking.

When we don't learn to listen and be truly interested in others and what is best for them, nothing you say will mean anything to them or ring true to them.  That makes it very hard for us to communicate the truth of God's love for the world.

So I bend a knee and pray for forgiveness from my arrogance and selfishness. As the song writer said, "Open my ears Lord and help me to listen."

Tinsel and lights

The sight of tinsel and lights brings with it the hope and joy that Christmas is once again drawing near and I'll never forget how that felt as a child. The school calendar was winding down and break up day was getting closer and closer.

My biggest joy in Christmas is that somewhere there is always a carols service and my favourites are the ones with little kids being dressed up as biblical characters and playing out the Christmas story. One message that rings out with a great chorus is, “Peace on earth, goodwill towards men.”

This Angelic chorus is repeated in Revelations 5 and is in essence the truth of the Christmas story and why Christ came to earth in the first place. Rev 5:9-10, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

Let us rejoice today that all nations are called to be children of God and let us spread this message to all who will hear!

Bedazzled

At first I was surprised that Jesus jumped into the letters to the seven churches so quickly at the start of Revelation but I guess it is much the same as when you are having a fight with someone. If you decide to get together over coffee to chat about the issue you seldom engage in small talk before diving straight in and getting the issues at hand.

With the air cleared Jesus immediately takes John into the throne room of God. The sight described before him are more beautiful than words could ever hope to describe. John's best efforts to describe God probably fall miles short, but images and colours of semi precious stones of Jasper, Sardine and Emerald are the closest descriptions he can find.

John continues to describe creatures which he had never seen before which to us sound rather frightening but I am sure they must have been majestic. Once again we hear words of worship before God. In truth the book of Revelation is more about worship as it is about predicting any future events.

As I have mediated today on my late father's birthday, my thoughts turned to these scriptures upon which I am gazing. I know that our time here on earth is a mere shadow of the time we will spend in eternity together and with images of beauty like these I can hardly wait until it is my time to get there.

Let us do whatever is in our power to do to ensure that our family and close friends will be with us in eternity so that we may all worship God together.

Dedicated in loving memory of Desmond Victor Hughes! Happy Birthday dad!

Amongst the ranting

Amongst what may seem to be more ranting, for God rebukes Sardis for they are dead and rebukes Laodiceans for they are neither hot nor cold, it seems as if God pauses over the church of Philedelphia. To them He proclaims that He will make the hypocrits bow before them and He declares His love for them.

Then God speaks a word that should give is all hope and direction, for He says that a door which He opens, no man can shut and one which He shuts, no man can open. Wow! I wish we would learn to pay close attention to that statement.

How often in life don't we come to road blocks, doors in our lives that are shut so tight that we couldn't open them ourselves if we tried, and what do we do? We stand and knock, bash and cry at the door as if by this behaviour we would change God's mind. No! It is time we recognize the intent of God in that situation and simply walk away.

Don't waste any more time bashing on doors God has shut. Look up, ask God for direction and move on to the next door. Believe in your heart that when God is fully satisfied that you are on the right path, He will open the right door for you and when you go through that door, you will walk in the full blessing of God!

Straight talk

We all those friends, the ones who will look us in the eye and tell us straight to our face exactly what we need to hear, whether it hurts us or not.  We often wonder how they can be so brutal but in hind sight we learn that they had our best interest at heart.

In Revelation 2 we see Jesus doing this in His message to 4 of the 7 churches to whom He instructed John to write too.  He is careful to give them praise for the things that they have done well but He also speaks bluntly about the areas that they are failing in.

What were these failures that angered the heart of God?

To the Ephesians, it was that they had lost their first love for God.  To Smyrna He spoke of their blasphemy and serving Satan. To Pergamos it was their following of false doctrine. To Thyatira it was their sexual immorality.

To all these offenses we may quickly claim that we are innocent but the same warning is given to each of these churches at the end of their message:  He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

We would do well to check our hearts carefully before dismissing the word of God.  Let us rather draw near to God and repent and allow Him to do a new work within us.

Spectacular vision

I have always been a little shy of the book of Revelation and will for the most part skip it in favour of what I would call lighter, less heavier reads but I felt challenged by God to work through it this time round. I try not to focus on more than one chapter at a time on any book so that I can allow it to all sink in.

With a heart open and ears ready to hear from God, I began reading chapter 1. What a spectacular vision rises before your eyes when you read the following:

Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girded about the chest with a golden band.

Rev 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

I have no words that can beat this spectacular image so I leave you with these words. It all makes perfect sense why there are angels in heaven crying, “Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Holy, Holy, Holy.”

Getting organized

I am currently working through some filing in my new position, something the team simply has not had the time or resources to get done. Most people would get annoyed with being stuck with a filing task but I view it as a unique opportunity to very quickly learn about the scope of the job function and all that it entails. In a highly regulated banking environment having ones ducks in a row is very crucial.

Setting ones affairs in order on a personal level is also really important. Making sure you have you have a written will, looking after your estate management and being in control of your financial affairs are all part of good stewardship.

These are all lessons in life that I have had to learn the hard way as I have made many wrong decisions in the past, so I could never stand in judgement of others who have perhaps taken a wrong turn. The one thing I have learned is that our God is a truly a God of mercy and if we repent then He will always be ready and waiting for us to return to the plan that He has laid down for us to follow.

Pick of storms

The rainy season is now eventually in full swing. Today's weather was probably as close to the way I love things as you can get. It was sunny for most of the day with a brief time of rain but by the time I left the office, the sun was back out again and there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky.

We don't get to pick the weather, God/nature does that for us. We just have to figure out a way to cope in the midst of them. Be it a hail storm, tornado, tropical cyclone or a raging thunder storm they all have their own unique dangers.

Life is like that too. We don't get to choose what crisis will be thrown at us. Sickness, financial failure, marriage breakups a loss of a family member are all devastating storms of life. There is one thing that both types of storms do have in common though and that is that often they change the course of our lives.

Tornado's destroy homes and so do divorces, but both happen in our world today. How do we rise above these storms and stay strong in God? We need to make sure that we are anchored in our relationship with God. In the same way that homes in tornado zones are built with a strong basement, so too our Christian faith should be anchored by the knowledge that because God loves us and He will always bring about the best outcome for us, even if that outcome is our own passing from this life to the next.

Storms come and go but when the pass, we get up and we rebuild that which was broken. It is in those times that we must never forget Romans 8:28 that all things work together for the good of them that love God and are called according to his purposes.

Press release

This weekend was hectic but I had a short while between appointments to have a quick first glance through the press release that needs to be prepared for the books release, hopefully later this year. Now, I would love to know how many authors have drafted a press release from the back seat of a Hyundai Atos. Trust me, it was funny.

There are so many interesting parts to the publishing process and I am really finding it fun and an interesting learning curve. Hopefully if any future books get released it will help me to prepare for them better.

I wonder what the press release for Jesus birth would have been like? Yes, I know Isaiah, the Angels, the Shepherds and wise men all beat me to it, but how about I give it my own shot?

A boy child, Jesus, was born to Mary and Joseph. This young child's future looks bright. He is to become a friend to the lost and down hearted, a healer of all ailments and diseases, a mentor to His disciples, a friend to many even tax collectors and a provider of food to the multitudes. His destiny will be to wear a crown of thorns made by scoffers and a death more agonising than anyone could imagine. BUT, He is to rise from the dead on the 3^rd day, to defeat Satan in his own territory, to snatch the keys of death, hell and the grave and to set captivity free! He will rule for all eternity, seated at the right hand of the Father and will be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Go quickly, read about Him in today's bible! Amen!

Night after night

I was busy digging through my old Bible School files this evening, looking for some notes to send to my sister. Looking through those files brought back many wonderful memories of my 3^rd year, but what concerned me as I glanced through them was the realization that in truth we had only skimmed the surface.

So how much time did we spend in classes learning about God and His word? Well my 1^st and 2^nd year I did back to back but 3^rd year a few years later, but the days and hours? 3 lectures per night (roughly 45 minutes each), 5 nights per week, 4 normal school terms per year, for 3 years! Yikes, that sure was a huge amount of time studying God's word night after night.

Why do I raise all this though? Bragging? No, never! I say all this because a wise lecturer once told us that the more you learn about God the more you realize how little you know. That means that even if we were able to spend every waking moment learning about God and studying Him, we still would never know everything there is to know about our awesome God!

Maybe you are asking then why should we even bother trying? Well what I've learned over the years is that God is in every waking moment. Every experience I have and feel is part of my life with God, so in truth I know all that I need to know for this very moment.

Oh temptation

Oh my, how I longed to bunk work today! My book draft has come in from the publisher and there is so much work to be done with that. The little devil on my shoulder said, "call in sick and spend the day at home and do the work". My conscience just could not do it though as the right thing to do is to book a days leave.

It really isn't easy to do the right thing all the time and that is why temptation is one of the Devil's most powerful tools! The Devil's other favourite tool is discouragement! When you put discouragement and temptation together the result is often explosive!

It is our nature to justify our actions when temptation comes, but James 1:12 tells us what the right thing is to do: “Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him.”

Living a life of integrity can be really difficult at times but God promises us that there will be rewards to our faithfulness and honesty if we choose to focus on Him and walk the path that he has asked us to walk.

Bed weather

We have had an unusually dry and dusty start to Spring this year and it has been really hard to try and keep all the smaller flowers alive, so I was hugely grateful when it started raining on Saturday night and it has continued raining on and off through to today with a few added hail storms as well. 

The cool weather just made for perfect bed weather and I spent all day Sunday in bed with my laptop catching up on some necessary work, only getting up in the evening to have a shower and rush to Church.  This meant I did not get my usual Sunday cooking done and my punishment for my laziness meant I had to catch up with cooking on Monday tonight.  Unfortunately the bad weather prevented me from posting this blog yesterday.

I drove home yesterday evening with thoughts crossing my mind about how I ever managed to live a productive life in the past.  The pace in the city has really changed dramatically over the past 10 years and travel to and from work now eats up great chunks of the day.  I also wondered if Jesus ever felt like life was to hectic?  Despite our drastic differences in lifestyle I think He did.  I think that is why we read about Him often taking time out to retreat to quiet areas for prayer and meditation. 

That being said I find myself thinking that maybe I am just too harsh on myself and that enjoying the slower days in bed are a gift and I should enjoy them guilt free.  Maybe you've been in the same boat, chastising yourself for just taking things at your own pace at times.   Well I want to encourage you not too, God certainly doesn't.  He knows our need for a change of pace and welcomes every day as it comes. 

So relax, enjoy the rain and feel the strength that comes from each new day!