Monthly Archives: May 2015

Random Devotional Thoughts

Clearing up the Rubbish.

     Des  We were staying on a friend’s property in our caravan recently. This place had high hedges around the paddock edges. Our friend had taken his hedge trimming machine into these paddocks to cut and trim back the tall trees, and this had only made a worse mess than ever. The branches and cut pieces of the trees all fell on the ground beneath as they were cut off. There was no way the grass would grow up fresh and sweet there.

We went home and came back the following week. By this time he had taken his tractor into the paddock again, and had pushed all the scraps and branches into large heaps ready for burning when the weather was right. It was surprising what a large area was now clear right up to the tree trunks, enabling the grass to grow there as extra feed for the cattle.

It made me think how this is a lot like our lives. We allow things to creep in and crowd out what is helpful to others. Our time is taken up with things of no real value, and we have no time for the things that matter. Sometimes the things that we do are creative and beautiful, but if we can’t give them away to someone who appreciates them, we are really just wasting our time. Other things are just frivolous time fillers just to keep us occupied.

These are the things that need to be cut off and let fall to the ground, and then pushed up into piles and burned. Let’s make sure that we clean up around the edges of our lives, and give ourselves more time and space to do things for others.

The Bible talks about building our lives with wood, hay and stubble, and how these things are easily burned, whereas if we build with valuable metals these only get refined if a fire goes through them  (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

Grandma's Stories

What is a Shadow?

P1020998   A well known preacher lost his wife and was left with three motherless children. As was to be expected, the children couldn’t understand why their mother had died, and had many questions they asked their father.

One day as they were going in the car to the cemetery, a large truck and trailer passed them closely making a dark shadow over the car.

“Ooh, I wouldn’t want that truck to hit us!”, one of the children said.

“Which would hurt us the most, the truck or the shadow of the truck?” asked their father.

“The shadow can’t hurt us”, one of the older children said.

“No,” said their father, “And that’s just what it was like for Mum. Death didn’t hurt her because she loved Jesus, it was only just a shadow for her. It has only taken her body, and not touched her spirit or soul which are with Jesus in heaven”.

“Oh, that makes it so easy to understand now”, said the oldest boy.

 

Yes, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.  (Psalm 23:4)

Adult Testimonies

The Importance of Reading the Bible

BIBLE1As new prisoners came into the system, Harold always had an introductory chat with them, finding out why they were there and filling in forms. He wasn’t always able to introduce the matter of spiritual topics at the beginning of their time in prison, but did it whenever there was an opportunity.

This particular man was in for child abuse, and as the conversation moved along, Harold was able to bring it around to spiritual things. The man was convicted while Harold was talking with him and admitted that what he had done was sin in the sight of God, and he realised that he had to do something about it. Harold was able to tell him how to pray and confess his deeds as a sin against God, thus becoming born again.

The next day, Harold saw him again and asked how he had slept now that he had made his peace with God.

“You know Boss”, he said, “It’s fascinating! I woke up as usual and lit up a cigarette like I always do, and it tasted terrible! I threw it away and haven’t wanted one since!”

Harold was so pleased to hear this, and encouraged him further.

Not every one who turned to the Lord had such an immediate deliverance from this debilitating habit…..some men indeed, had quite a struggle to give up smoking.

But Harold kept in contact with him and was able to encourage him to continue reading his Bible and doing the Bible Study Courses he was able to get for him.

The prison population was around 400, and over time, Harold was able to see forty men do the Bible Courses. Other than that, there wasn’t much follow-up work done with the men, especially when they were transferred elsewhere or moved out of the prison system altogether. When he could, Harold would contact the local minister where they were going and hope they would follow them up, but there was no guarantee that this would happen.

Those who were able to, would find a church they could go to, and continue with their daily readings of the Bible. This would continue to feed them spiritually, and they would grow in their faith.

 

Random Devotional Thoughts

The Glassblower.

WGLASS2We had some visitors from another area, and were taking them around the local sights. One of these was a glass blower at  work behind the gallery that was selling a lot of his work. There were some beautiful pieces on display, all brightly coloured and different shapes. The man was in his workshop at the back of the gallery which was open for people to watch him at work.

We went in and up the stairs where we could look down on him plying his art. The furnace was heated up and the tongs he was using were red hot. As he pulled the shaped vase out of the heat, he pulled and twisted at the neck of it to form a shapely edge. But time and time again, he had to put it back into the heat because he wasn’t satisfied with how it looked.

It reminded me of the Master Glass Blower at work in our lives, as He moulds and perfects His people to make them become what He wants them to be. We may not like the heat of the fire we have to go through, or the pulling and twisting that we are subject to, but when it is all over, we are more like the finished article that He wants us to be….a thing of beauty and fit for His use.

Random Devotional Thoughts

Time for a Change!

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If you have been following this site, you will see that there are a few changes. I have been wanting to update my site for a while and have finally taken the plunge which I hope will be an improvement in the end! It’s a bit like the road works in our local area, the whole place looks a mess while the foundation is being laid, and the traffic is held up at times, but the end result is well worth it.

So many things in life are like this. We look into a certain subject, play around with it a bit, think of the pros and cons of it, and then make a decision. Some things have far reaching results and we have to live with the results of our choices. One thing that comes to mind, is our marriage partners. Whoever we choose, will have a great influence on our way of life and our eventual way of thinking, so it pays to be very careful before even starting. An old saying is, “Use your head, before you lose it!” Another saying is, “If you are doubtful, leave it alone. It’s like a shirt collar, if it’s doubtful, it’s dirty!”

People are more particular in the things of the spirit than in any other field. We all seem to have an inborn resistance to the things of God. So many people will not even look into these things, their hackles go up when anything like this is mentioned. Surely before we can make an informed decision about anything, we should do some research from reliable sources before we push it all to one side. After all, those who follow the Christian way of life have nothing to lose if they are wrong, whereas those who ignore it have everything to lose if it is the right way!

So I hope this site will show signs of improvement in the end, and at least I have the satisfaction of saying I DID try!