A hospital visit that posed a bigger question!

I was going to visit two Christians who were in hospital. It was a high rise building and the people I wanted to see were on different levels. I went to the area on the ground floor, from which the elevators could be accessed and was soon on my way up. After spending a little while with the first person I made my way back to the area where a number of people were waiting for an elevator. Soon it arrived and we were asked, "Are you going up?" This immediately divided the people because some said, "No we’re going down". I got in and was in the company of people, all of whom were going up; the others we left behind and they were going down.

Later, as I pondered this simple incident, I thought it was just like humanity; some are going down and some are going up! The destinations are certainly not on earth. Some people are going up to heaven, while sadly very many are going down to hell. Dear reader, which way are you going?

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Free of charge but costly

We have had reason to attend two NHS Fife hospitals over the past few weeks, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall, and we are so grateful for the treatment we received. Our needs were met with care and kindness, as well as with skill and professionalism. The system is complex, the staff numbers are huge, the running costs are staggering, but we found that individuals matter.

 

I’m told that NHS Fife is the largest employer in the county – I cannot think what the wages bill must be. The equipment costs are well into millions of pounds, from thousands of sterile syringes and hundreds of BP monitors up to large body scanners and X-ray machines. Then add in heating, cleaning, catering and servicing costs, and the admin office work to support each function. We benefit from it all, provided free of charge. However, I was quite horrified to find out that wasted medicines cost NHS Fife £2.1 million each year. Those of us who get the medicines free have a responsibility there.

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Handling tragedy

 

Hasn’t the world gone crazy? It seems I am writing about this a lot recently. We recently witnessed the tragedy of four young men’s deaths in a car crash in Liverpool. Whatever the cause, the heartbreak for everyone involved is devastating. It was one of those sobering events that makes you stop and think - what if it was me? What if it was my son? Why do such things happen?

I am writing from Uganda at the moment. The other morning I met a lady with two young boys that I assumed were her grandchildren. I was right, but sadly discovered that their mother (the lady’s daughter) had died unexpectedly in November last year. I pondered - why the young lady and not someone older? Why are those little children left without their mother? I cried as I thought about it.

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Singing is wonderful

 

Singing is wonderful. My son has had hearing difficulties all his life, but one of the many things we enjoyed when he was a toddler was his ability to sing. He would sit on the floor when he wasn’t being watched and sing tunes he had heard us sing and things he had picked up in church. We were amazed that despite his hearing loss, he could still sing in tune.

On my visits to Uganda, I am always greeted by village children who line up and sing a welcome song. Their rhythm and melodies are heartwarming and beautiful to listen to. This is happy music expressing words of greeting. Despite their obvious poverty, they have found hope. That hope is grounded in faith and anchored in a person - the Lord Jesus Christ. One of my favourite Bible verses that expresses the hope of the gospel is found in Romans chapter 15 verse 13 - ‘Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’. This guarantees present joy and peace when a person believes what God has promised. 

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A sad man

I was sitting in Wick, Caithness, as I wrote this column. I have visited this area several times over the years. Like many places, it is a beautiful part of the world on sunny days, and today the sun is shining, making everything very pleasant.

One of my reasons for visiting this part of the world is to give talks on the book of Jeremiah, which is part of both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Jeremiah wrote roughly 2,600 years ago and was a Jewish prophet tasked with informing his fellow compatriots that their ethics were deeply flawed. He warned that if things did not change, they were heading for disaster. Additionally, he had a message for the surrounding nations, which were characterised by greed, pride, and evil practices such as child sacrifice.

I have been struck by how people reacted to Jeremiah's message and how similar their reactions are to my own responses when I hear something I don't want to accept. I believe that the Bible is God's message to humanity, and the truth contained within its pages calls for a personal response from me.

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Courtesy is a great thing!

 

When I wrote this, I had just boarded a flight from Entebbe, Uganda, to Doha on my way home to Liverpool via Manchester. As some of you know, I have worked with a group of Christian churches in Eastern Uganda for a number of years. I try to visit them twice a year, have weekly online Bible studies with them, and help co-host a weekly radio program. Every time I leave Uganda, some impressions are reinforced, and fresh impressions are made. For instance, I am always impressed by how gentle and courteous the average Ugandan is (apart from when they are driving, which is another story). Courtesy is a wonderful trait that doesn't cost you anything. In Uganda, it is normal for a child or a young person to shake hands (often using two hands) and lower themselves to the ground when greeting an older person. This is not an act of subservience but an expression of respect. 

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Significant Milestones

 

In recent years I have witnessed some significant milestones in life. Firstly, my old aunt of 90 years of age passed away. It was a wonderful release for her as she was sure of arriving safely in heaven when she closed her eyes in death. You may think this to be presumptive or ill-founded. My aunt was an intelligent person who had a career as a school teacher. Many years ago, she had become convinced that her sins needed to be forgiven and that humans are accountable to their Creator. Her hope was based solidly on the following verses from the Bible:

‘The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost,’ 1 Timothy 1. 15

Jesus said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life,’ John 5:24

‘The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance,’ 2 Peter 3:9.

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Lessons for Wise Living

This summer I have been travelling, and on one of my trips, I ended up in Iowa, USA. This is one of the five main farming states in the USA: California, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, and Minnesota. The farmland stretches for mile after mile; as far as the eye can see! We stayed on a farm, and in one of my jobs (apart from my initial reason for being there, which was to give a series of talks on the Bible), I helped ferry vehicles from the main farm site to the corn fields they were spraying. On another occasion, I sat in a 'Semi' (we would call it a forty-footer or an articulated lorry) on several trips from the corn bins to the depot where the corn was weighed, checked and then offloaded, waiting transport by freight train to various locations to be processed as either renewable fuel (ethanol) or animal feed. It was, for me, a good reminder that it takes hard work, the right weather and a lot of planning and logistics to earn money and make a living. The guys I talked to were very aware that a good year versus a bad one was often out of their hands. They were dependent on rainfall levels, how hot the growing season was, and many other factors. Mostly, it is out of their control. It's significant that people who work the land or are in high-risk occupations (mining, fishing, etc.) are often more aware of how fragile life is and are more down-to-earth.

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Why must we die?

The Bible states that 'it is appointed unto men once to die'. This most obvious of facts is among the most distressing things that we human beings face. I have a friend who committed suicide just before Christmas about eleven years ago. Why - I can speculate but I do not really know. One my friends in Liverpool then found that her partner's nephew has been found dead in his flat. Death comes to us all but why?

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Is there such a place as hell?

Rudyard Kipling spoke of six honest serving men in his poem 'The Elephant’s child', lets think about some of these in relation to the subject of Hell. 

Who and Where

The BBC reported on 6^thFebruary 2019 that European Council President, Donald Tusk had spoken of a 'special place in hell' for 'those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan of how to carry it out safely'. It is interesting that a politician refers to Hell in a world which rarely gives God much notice. To be honest only God know the full extent of Hell. Mr Tusk states who he envisages going to a special place in Hell.  He may have big responsibilities within the EU Administration but he has no responsibility in consigning anyone to Hell, that is God's prerogative alone and thankfully the Bible states that His aim is not to get us into Hell but into Heaven.  The scripture records that 'He (God) is not willing that any should perish,' 2 Peter 3. 9.

Early in January 1957 a SASRA preacher came into Billet 454 RAF Henlow, Beds to talk to the men present, about God and the Bible.  Before he left that night he asked three questions 

1. Do you believe in God? 
2. Do you believe in Heaven and Hell? 
3.  If you were to die tonight where would you go, Heaven or Hell?  

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I’ll get round to it someday!

How good are you at complaining. One man who was interviewed recently on television reminded us that whinging is different to complaining. Whinging is apparently just moaning but not doing anything about it. Formal complaining means that you are holding the service provider responsible for what they do or do not do and making sure that you get what you are paying for.

 

Once when coming back from a trip to Africa. En-route our cases stayed in Dubai while we flew to Lusaka. They caught up with us eventually, but we have a claim to lodge for extra expenses incurred because of an extra night that we stayed in Lusaka. Have I submitted it yet? I think you probably can guess the answer. 

Most of us feel that we deserve to get what we pay for. This is only fair, and it is our right but how many of us get round to complaining when things go wrong. The purpose for writing this article is not actually to encourage you to complain (not that it would be a bad thing) but to point out that most of us don’t get round to it very often. We mean to but we don’t quite get round to it. That’s true about a lot of things.

 

Think about this for example. How many of us have joined a gym and never used it? How often do we think about slimming but never quite get there? Or your mortgage – you know the rate could be lower but because of the hassle of changing provider we never get round to it. All these examples are about things that could improve our lives but we put off doing anything about. I want to ask you to consider another area of your life which we all tend to ignore and pretend that it’s too much hassle – that is your relationship or lack of one with God. We can all argue why we don’t think God is real but in our hearts, we know that God is there. Most of us live life as if it will never end and accuse people of being morbid who raise the issues of life after death. But we all know that we will die one day and to ignore the afterlife is fatal. You say if I’m wrong, I’m wrong but the reality is if you’re wrong you will be lost forever in a place you don’t want to be. 

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