He shall set me upon a rock.........Psalm 27

NEIGHBOURHOOD DAY

Our church has in the past really not reached out to people - we've sort of sat back and expected them to come into our meetings ... and that has not happened.....as the saying goes we have been 'preaching to the converted'. Yesterday however was different and will hopefully be the start of a new move in reaching the local people - meeting them where they are. Instead of our annual Sunday School trip for the children it was decided to hold a 'neighbourhood day' in the field beside the church/hall and invite the nrighbourhood - adults and children. It was a huge success - local people came and willingly took part in all that was happening - games for the children and adults, t-shirt painting, crafts for the ladies, barbecue and tea/coffee and ice creams for all - and a puppet / theatre show with clear gospel messages. A great day, enjoyed by all - and I'm sure the outsiders could see that the folks who meet in that little hall week after week are quite normal after all. It was a day when, instead of expecting the community to come to us, we reached out to them, we became a part of the community and I trust the Lord will bless us and continue to speak to hearts long after this day.

GOD IS FOR ME

What a wonderful thought....GOD IS FOR ME!

GOD......the only true God - all powerful

IS......present tense.....ongoing, sure and certain.

FOR.....no matter how much is against me. I can be buffetted on all sides, feeling opposed at every turn but have the assurance that God is FOR me.

ME.....yes, it's personal. God is for ME.

(I found this saved as a 'draft' as I was posting about our loss of Jojo......can truly not remember writing it but it has soothed my soul tonight. I guess the Lord had it stored away waiting for me)

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

Well.....we did it!

We hit the shops running today......well, not quite running but slinking along trying to ignore the pain in my hip joints, the numbness in my arms, the burning heat in the back of my neck, and the weariness and fatigue that had been dragging me down ever lower all week.

And yes.....it was a great success! I am ALMOST finished! I say almost because, until the shops actually close on Christmas Eve, I will be convinced there's something else to get, someone I've forgotten in this festive season.

This year will be different though. I promise. I owe it to ME to make it different.

Now that the shopping is 95% complete, I will gift wrap my purchases - they will be neatly stacked and ready for delivery. I will write my cards THIS week - they will be mailed and on their way.

In the shops today people jostled, rushed about, bought impluse purchases for friends and loved ones. I just wonder how many of those selected gifts will be returned for exchange and refund - how much of our time and money have we spent shopping for people who have no real needs, and who know how much we love them all year through without us presenting them with gifts at Christmas.

I think of God's gift to us - the greatest gift ever given - HIS SON, the Lord Jesus Christ. The world is not jostling today, rushing, crushing, heaving through the crowds to receive this gift. And yet God has GIVEN His Son, freely, that we might become His children. He has made a way that we might be one with Him. A gift freely given, out of love, truly from the heart of God and yet the world rejects Him. Oh how we must hurt the very heart of God - HE LOVED, HE GAVE. As I consider the true meaning of Christmas admidst all the jostle and bustle of commercialism I can be thankful that Jesus is mine - this gift from the very heart of God and I am one with Him. Thank you Jesus.