Reply To A Question.

Recently I received the following comment on my Blog site. “I note from your profile you ask...Do you really know where you stand before Jesus Christ? What do you mean by that?”

I don’t normally post “religious items” on my blog site, but as I was asked the question once, I thought others might also be interested in my response and so I will this, one time, share a ‘religious” item with you. So here is my response to the question.

As to the question on my blog site, “Do you really know where you stand before Jesus Christ?”
I guess that that comes out of my time as both a Missionary and a Pastor. I have found that in talking to people, many claim to “Know” Jesus Christ, but when you talk to them, you find that they have a different picture of Christ than what the Bible has.

There are some weird and wonderful ideas out in the world about who or what Jesus is/was and what their relationship to Him should/could be.

Whereas the Bible says that not only is Jesus the Son of God who came as a Perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty of Mankind’s sins and to restore redeemed mankind into relationship with God, (John’s Gospel Chapter3 Verse 16.) but that He is the only way. (John’s Gospel Chapter 14 Verse 6.) And that we are to live a new life empowered by the Holy Spirit. (Book of Romans Chapter 7 Verse 4.) And if we don’t live this life then we are not standing saved before Christ as Romans Chapter 8 verses 5 to 9 say.

I hope that I haven’t come across too preachy here, but what I meant in my question was, not so much are you saved and born again, which is the ideal, but do you just know if you stand redeemed before God through Jesus Christ, or whether you know that you are not one of God’s Children. (Romans 8 verses 12-17.)

Again I don’t wish to come across too preachy here, but as a Bible believing Christian, I feel it is important that people know where they stand before God, and not remain ignorant, even if they still wish to reject God and Eternal Salvation.

If you have any further questions, I will be happy to try and answer them, and hopefully not come across too heavy. Take care there. Walter

What if everyone was like ….

Just a short blog today. Short but one that I hope will cause you to think about yourself seriously. Recently our small group was asked to ask ourselves this following question:

“What kind of group would my group be, if everyone was like Me?”

An interesting question and one I am not sure I really want to think about myself but know that I should. I know what sort of Person I think I am, but is that really how others see me? And would I really be proud of the “Me” that others see? And would I even like them, let alone want to be with a whole group of them?

Enough of me, what about you? That is your “homework” for today. Answering the following question. “What kind of group would my group be, if everyone was like Me?” Over to you for your response: Walter

Five Question Interview

I was looking at a web Link from a Friend’s blog a little while back and came across a blog about an Interview session to learn more about people you know but don’t really know.

I thought it a good idea but I wasn’t overly excited about the questions used and as it encouraged others to try it using their own questions, I wondered what questions would I ask of people I scarcely knew but wanted to know more about.

In my line of work the second question this other person used was relevant and so I use it as originally asked, as I do with her first question. The rest are of my own inquisitiveness.

1. What's your earliest childhood memory?

2. Were you raised a religious person? If so, what religion? Are you still religious?

3.What do you like others to do for you? What do you like doing for others?

4. What don’t you like others doing to you, and do you do the same thing to others?
5. Think of one thing you would do differently. What would it be? & Will you do it now?

Well that’s me! What would be your priorities in getting to know someone new?

As a postscript I would also ask you to give some consideration to my last question, even if you don’t answer any of the others or reply back: Good thinking to you! Walter

Bird feeders: Good or Bad or indifferent?

I have an American friend who recently bought and set up a Bird feeder on her Patio, to feed the hungry birds nearby. It was a wonderful thing to do wouldn’t you think? Yet it wasn’t too long before she removed it completely. Why?

Here is the reason in her own words: “I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the
continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table ... everywhere. Then some of the
birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it
got low on food. After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be ... quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.”

Isn’t that a great illustration of how bad habits often come into our lives? We see something pretty and attractive ‘out there’ and so we set out to encourage “it/them’ into our lives, only to find that along with the ‘Pretty” comes “the pretty nasty” too, and pretty soon the nasty and noisy take over and start to dominate our lives, building their “little nests” and leaving their excrement, anywhere and every where they please, with absolutely no regard to us.

The only way to deal with this problem is like how my friend dealt with the birds. Stop feeding them and removing their “nests’ or hold on you. Stop encouraging them, and soon they will drop away and find easier pickings elsewhere.

Sure one or two will probably hang around but you have to be careful even then not to feed them either or else you will start the whole cycle all over again. Once is more than enough as my friend with the birds has discovered. So what is your “Hungry, angry Bird”, and what do you need to do to remove its attractions. Along with not continuing to feed them, what nests do you need to remove it, and how much “poop” can/will you remove?

There comes a time when you must take personally responsibility for what you have done. Like my friend who first put out the seed, it was also she who had to stop doing it and clean up the resultant mess. What about you too? It is not enough to want to change things in your life; you also need to take positive action too. Again like my friend it will often be one step at a time and in correct order too.

It would have been pointless for her to clean up the “poop” and even remove the nests, as long as she kept feeding and encouraging them to stay, wouldn’t it? So what are you going to do about the “Noisy, Messy Birds” in your life? It really is all up to you! Walter

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Strength In Fact and Not Just In Words.

Some time back I was in a bargain store in our local Shopping centre and saw some flat stones with words engraved on them that could be used for Paperweights or some such. They were in my opinion quite cheap and so I ended up buying half a dozen, although I only intended to buy one or two initially!

They had various Words on them but being a Bible practising Christian, I only bought those who leaned towards the Fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5: 22.

However upon buying them I had a small problem, what was I going to do with all of them? Sure I could use one or two as a paperweight, which is what attracted me to them in the first place, but I didn’t have the room or need for 6 of them, did I?

Shortly after this I had to move my Cactus garden at the side of the house so that the Re-stumpers could get to the underneath of the house on that side. As I had already decided to put the Cactus garden somewhere else in theory but not yet in practise, this gave me the impetus to do so. So when I had moved the cactus patch and re-settled all the small white pebbles back around them I got the idea to put these flat stones with their one word messages on them, scattered about the new area, as a talking point. When I did so, I got one or two comments from visitors

One of those to comment on them was from one of my brother-in-laws that upon seeing them remarked along the lines of, “Oh you have them too!” It turns out that his wife; (my sister) had bought some too. Among the ones she purchased was one that said ‘Strength”. The only trouble was that my sister somehow managed to drop it from a very low height and it broke! So much for its advertised strength hey?

But isn’t that a bit like us sometimes? We dress ourselves up and tout ourselves as having some special ability but when the crunch comes and we are put to the test, we fail at the first drop so to speak?

Many years ago I heard a Charlie Pride song, of which the title escapes me but one of the lines has stuck in my memory and I have tried to model my life on it ever since.

I can’t even remember if I have the words 100% in order but it contains the lines; I’m not the worst or the best! I’m just me! I try to be exactly what you see. Nothing more or less, not the worst or the best, just me!”

Again what about you? Are you always trying to be what you are not, instead of what you really are? Instead of trying to be something or someone else; instead of trying to be the best this or that, why don’t you just try to be the “Best YOU” there is? Don’t worry about what you are not! Just be the best "you" there is and leave it at that! Walter

Finally, Fully Moved Now.

Well here I am back again after a longer break than originally intended. We have officially been in this house for a month now, but as a couple of things, (mainly the fish Tanks and especially the Computer,) were still at the Children’s house, we have been flitting back and forth ever since, so that I could do my Computer generated work, (Correspondences, sermons preparation, Bulletins, etc.)

That and all the myriad of things to do in settling into a new home have also taken their toll on time and energy. Thus we tended to spend our time on the important and the urgent things, and the Blog site was not considered one of them. I had originally written the ‘Making Sausages’ Blog over 5 months ago but had not found a real need to send it until recently when I found doing everything and the blog was difficult, so I momentarily dropped the blog. First for just one day, which then became 3 days, then 4 and finally it is nearly 3 weeks now. Doesn’t time fly when you let it, hey?

Well that’s me! What about you? What is it in your life right now that is dominating all your time and energy? Is it something really worth all that you are missing out on, and hope will it soon come to a natural end or do you actually need to take control and end it now?

In other words I am asking you, what are the current priorities in your life right now? And are they the right ones? If so enjoy them.

If not, what can you do about it? See it to its brief and imminent end like I did with the move, or take more drastic steps to finish it? What say you? Walter

Are You Making Sausages?

Recently I have been very busy with a whole host of things that had to be done basically there and then. So much so that I really didn’t have time to put out a daily blog. I don’t have to, but I had earlier decided to restrict my output to that, at a time when I had plenty up my sleeve. Lately I have used them up and although I have ideas for over half a dozen floating around in my head, I haven’t had time to isolate them and put them down in print.

So if you don’t find something from me everyday, it is not because I have run out of things to say, just the time to separate my thoughts from real life, and put them on file. Which is what happened lately, and may happen again. Maybe more than once too!

The other day when I realized that I didn’t have one for that day and really didn’t have the time to do one to my satisfaction. I did think of jotting something down, just to make my self-imposed quota, but resisted the urge just to churn them out like sausages,

I basically started writing these articles for fun, family and relaxation, and the blog site was an after thought. I enjoy writing these items but I don’t wish them to consume my life.

So what about you? Has your work or hobby become an obligation rather than a release? Something that was once fun but now a burden?

Are you staring to lessen the quality of your work, just to keep up the quantity? To the point that it seems that you are just churning out sausages.

Don’t get me wrong, I love sausages, just not all the time that is. There is a time and a place for sausages. The question is, “Do you know that time and place, or have you already become a sausage maker? And maybe not even a good one at that, and now you need to learn how to relax again. And even to prioritize what is really important over what is urgent! I did! What about you now? Over to you: Walter