A place in the queue!

Waiting in a queue is part of everyday life, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall. The other morning I was told I was number 19 in a telephone queue, and it took half an hour for me to get to where I wanted, a test of patience and resolve!

Queues at bus stops aren’t too bad unless it’s raining and there is no shelter. Airport queues can be very long but at least they move, perhaps slowly. At supermarket check-outs, do you go for the shortest queue, then in frustration find that someone’s problem holds everyone up? The worst thing is when someone jumps the queue and gets the last place available!

Would you rather fly Economy Class or Business Class?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Some years ago I was speaking at a conference in Delhi, India and thankfully there were other speakers who were utterly riveting to listen to and absorb what they were saying. One such was a Canadian and he related a time when he was going to travel by plane when the check-in staff wondered whether he wanted to be upgraded. One of his joys in travelling is speaking with fellow passengers and he wondered whether that would be possible if he were upgraded. However, he was persuaded and duly went into Business Class rather than Economy Class and so could look forward to a much more comfortable journey.

As he went to sit down in the plane he introduced himself to a business women nearby with the words,  “I have been upgraded and it is only for one reason.” She politely enquired what that reason was and he said, “To talk to you about the Lord.”  I am sure she had never encountered such a direct approach before and it made her somewhat irritable and even angry. Her anger was directed firstly at the fact that he had been upgraded whereas she had paid the full amount for the privilege of travelling Business Class and secondly that he now wanted to engage her in a conversation about the Lord!

Visit to the USA

I’ve just arrived in the USA for a few weeks. It seems like we’ve been travelling for ever. We left Liverpool at 7:30 am yesterday morning and have just touched down in Chicago and it’s now 2:02 GMT. For some reason I’m not tired but I’m sure I will be tomorrow. We’ve one more leg of the journey to do by plane (1 hour 30 minutes) and then a drive by car to our destination. 

I’m in the US to tell people about how God is working in the UK, Pakistan and Uganda. Despite the flooding in Pakistan many people are becoming true believers in Jesus Christ. 

Over the coming days I’ll update you when I have more details of the conditions in Pakistan. In the meantime keep well. 

Kind regards,

Stephen

A change of perspective!

Photo by Jerry Zhang on Unsplash

Photo by Nick Morales on Unsplash

Photo by Bethany Laird on Unsplash

I can remember on a flight I was looking out of the window at the white cotton clouds below, scattered over a mountain range. This is a perspective only seen maybe a few times each year. Looking down I could pick out villages & hamlets. I began to wonder where they were, who lived there, what did they do and what problems did they have. I glanced out of the window again, of course, the scene had changed. The cloud was more plentiful, I could make out a wooded area and in the distance a larger town. I did not know where it was, what size its population was and I certainly knew nothing of the very real problems that many people were facing that day.

Home time - The Blogger's Daily Diary - Friday

It's that time of the week when we think of heading home after a week away on business. There's nothing quite like heading home!

As my regular readers know I have been in Lossiemouth for the week conducting bible teaching meetings and visiting schools. 

Despite the early rise at 0415 I was still delighted to get to Inverness Airport to discover that the flight was going. This was despite Hurricane Abigail and the ongoing stormy weather that they are experiencing in Scotland. 

So that I had steady nerves, last night a friend posted a video of a plane landing at Inverness Airport. Despite the stormy weather the plane landed safely. What a feat of good piloting. The plane came in sideways, wavering and drifting back and forwards and yet the pilot gradually and carefully dropped it to the ground and made a safe landing. These guys are worth every penny they get paid. It needed a good pilot to get the plane and the passengers safely on the ground. More of this later. 

As I approached the airport this morning I wasn't quite sure what awaited me. Would we fly, would it be a 'heart in the mouth' flight or calm as a mill pond? That's a bit like life. We all know that one day we going to depart, putting it bluntly we will all die. But unlike my planned journey to Manchester none of us know when we will make our journey from this life to the next! And for many they don't know what the journey will be like. 

It's slightly different for me as a believer in Jesus Christ. I don't know when my life on earth will be over - will I die young (relatively speaking) or live to old age? I really don't know! But I know this. My passage to the next life has been planned and is under control. 

You see as a Christian I believe that God has the ultimate control over life and death. 

In Genesis 18:10 God visits Abraham to tell him he will return and they (Abraham & Sarah) will have a child. While humans produce a baby ultimately God gives life. That's why abortion is so wrong. 

In the bible another man called Job had to face many tragedies in life. He struggled with his circumstances and tried to reconcile God's right to act with his inability to change his circumstances. In Job 1:21 he says 'Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord'. He recognised that God has both the power of life and the authority over death. 

We can see from both of these verses that God is in control both of birth and of death. 

As a Christian I can claim the words of Psslm 23 with confidence: 'yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow death I will fear no evil'. No one is elated at the prospect of death but the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ knows that the Lord will be with them as they pass through death. 

The believer also knows where they are going. The Lord Jesus went to heaven after his death, burial & resurrection and has prepared a place for those who trust him to come to, John 14:1-6. 

Jesus promised to come back to collect the Church and take it to heaven (John 14, 1 Thessalonians 4). I am hoping that this happens before I die. But if it doesn't I know I'll be with Christ which the bible says is far better than being on earth, 2 Corinthians 5. 

What are you depending on for your safe arrival on the other side? You need that experienced and skilled pilot to guide you through life and bring you safely to heaven. Only Christ is 'the way, the truth and the life'. You can come to the Father (God) through him. 

Be careful!

Magical Monday

Today is the start of a working week for most people. For me, it is meant to be a day of rest after a busy weekend. Well it wasn't!

Carole left for Ballymena at 7.35 am, I did the food shopping in Tesco's at 8.30 am after dropping her at the Airport. How dizzy can you get burling (I think that is a good Scottish word) around a supermarket looking for eggs, then pancakes, chicken - I'll stop or you'll know what I'm making for tea each night this week. Supermarket shopping is stressful - ladies your skills are amazing. 

The rest of the day was spent completing church accounts, writing letters, visiting the bank, the Post Office, dealing with a painter, visiting a sick friend and answering the phone time and time again. Relaxing, no!!!

At the end of the day it was probably what you all do on Mondays but for me - I had hoped for a relaxing day. Och well, maybe next week. Oh no, I'm off to Lossiemouth next Monday so that's another one gone. 

It's just as well I love this work. I serve the best of bosses - the Lord Jesus Christ, so I really mustn't complain. I had one great phone conversation today. My friend, Tom, phoned to ask what it meant to be yoked to Jesus. Do you know the answer? Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 11:29 'take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls'. Now that got me thinking. To be yoked to or harnessed together with the Lord Jesus means you serve with him, you are linked to him as you work and He taught that working with Him means rest for your soul and that He is gentle to work with. 

That makes a days work so much easier but it only applies to people who are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. I hope it makes you think, it did in my case!