#StormGertrude and Safety

The current trend of naming storms really amuses me. So far this winter we’ve been hit by Storms, Amy, Bram, Chandra, Dave, Eddie, Fionnuala, Gerard, Hannah, Isla, Janna, Kasia, Lilith, Marty, Nico, Oscar, Patrick, Ruby, Stevie, Tadhg, Violet, and Wubbo. Now Claudia is here. Storm Desmond landed in the UK in early December 2016 and will likely go down as one of the most devastating storms to ever hit the North West, with its effects still being felt long after the winds had subsided. Now it is the turn of Storm Gertrude, bringing - at the time of writing - at least one red weather warning and leaving thousands without power across Scotland and Ireland.

In 2015 the Met Office and its Irish counterpart Met Eireann launched a project to name severe winter storms, much in the same way that hurricanes are named. The official statement said “Working together it is hoped that naming winter storms will help raise public awareness of severe weather and ensure greater public safety”. Storms are never good news! They devastate and damage: you never expect to come out the other side of a storm in better condition than you entered it. 

The bible uses the imagery of a storm to explain various ideas. In Job 21:17,18 the picture of a storm is used to explain how severely God views wickedness and evil. It says ‘God distributes sorrows in his anger. They (the wicked) are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carries away’. Wickedness in the bible covers a spectrum of behaviour all of which actively disagrees with what God, in his Word, says is right.

Most of us face storms in life from time to time. These are hard and tough experiences. God, is keenly interested and indeed involved in the storms we face even if we are not aware of his presence. Once when Jesus’ disciples faced a weather storm they discovered Jesus sleeping in the boat - he was not frightened as he faced the trauma’s of life! They shouted at Jesus  - do you not care that we perish? Little did they realise he how deeply he was interested! That day he rose from sleep and did what the impossible - he calmed the storm. Jesus still does that in individual lives today. That is if we ask!

As I close let me point you to two beautiful passages of scripture. In Isaiah 25:4 God states, among other things, that he is ‘a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat’. Again in the same book, Isaiah 32:2 we are told ‘a man shall be a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest’.The truth is that ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ and on this basis he is the one who can protect us in the storms of this life and from the storm of God’s judgement in the next life. 

The question is will we take advantage of his protection?

For more information and further explanations of the message of the bible via videos, blogs and podcasts please visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

One purchase you will never regret!

One purchase you will never regret!

While the religious authorities were seeking ways to trap, arrest and execute Jesus there was one person not so far from the city of Jerusalem who were doing the complete opposite. Standing up for what is right will often mean you are in the minority. Don't give up because the majority disagrees with you. Truth is not measured by statistics!

In the small town of Bethany there was a home were Jesus was always welcome. Is Jesus welcome in your home and life?

The people in Bethany that night were, as is always the case, split in their opinion and attitude to Jesus. Some believed him to be who he claimed to be, the Son of God. Others were convinced that he was a fraud, an imposter and not worth consideration. 

Where do you stand in your view of Jesus? Is it the one question that will determine your eternal destiny! Jesus said as recorded in John 8:24 'I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.'

On this occasion a lady comes into the house with expensive ointment and pours it on Jesus' head. The reaction: most said what a waste of good money; it could have been used for better purposes i.e. to feed the poor. 

Here's a point you may strongly disagree with! It's better to worship Jesus than to feed the poor! I think that's true! 

But listen, Jesus didn't say don't feed the poor! He said the poor would always exist! I think this a lesson in priorities. If we see Jesus for who he is, the Son of God. If we turn from our sin and unbelief, confess our sin and trust him as Lord and Saviour.....

THEN

We will go on to: feed the poor, love our neighbour and do all the things that are pleasing to God and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

SO

Where do you stand when it comes to the cost of worshipping Jesus? It's one price you will never regret paying. 

Mark 14King James Version (KJV)

1 After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.

2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.

3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?

5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.

8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

For more information and further explanations of the message of the bible via videos, blogs and podcasts please visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

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!