Birthday

P 2871 Everybody loves a holiday.

/ DVH

Tomorrow is my husband’s birthday 🎉 and we are going away for a few days to give him a ?rest? from all the things he has to do every single day to make our household run! So …  …we are taking half our house somewhere else that we’ve never been before, and packing all of it into our car. Personally I think he’s knocking off work to pick up bricks, but he’s pretty cheery about it. We will drive up the coast – where none of the services we actually need will be anywhere near where they should be … but for a little while we will have a great view!  🤣 As everybody already knows, a great view changes everything! 

Ssshh! I bought hubby a gizmo for his camera for his birthday – plus a car puzzle. He wants to take better pictures of birds, up really close. Fortunately, he does not see any sort of photography as work, he sees it as fun. And at the same time he is hoping to do some painting for our next trip. There is also a swimming pool available, downstairs, which is a big boon for his bad back … all that floating about. And me? I go where he goes… that is … anywhere but outside! Outside and I are allergic to each other — literally!

Holidays are often a big deal in many households. Lots of careful savings so we can afford all that fun! We mustn’t forget the right clothes so we aren’t too hot or too cold. And in our case we can’t afford to forget a very large bag full of all kinds of medicines … plus the … camera, of course. After all,  we must try this new whizz-bang gizmo out! Sunglasses, hats, sunscreen, the kids … Ha! I’m glad you picked up the fact that we have no kids at our house anymore … I’m just projecting your life onto mine!! 

We will also need to make sure we take all the cords for charging things, plus the things that we know that will need charging! I’m never quite sure how much of a holiday things like this are, as hubby often has to lug everything needed up lots of stairs … But fortunately … this … time … tada!! There is a lift. Happy birthday dear – I got you a lift!

The people in these holiday-land places always seem so nice, and friendly, when you get there. It makes me wonder if they are paid extra to smile – maybe they learn smile-practising 101? Meanwhile I can’t imagine anything worse than living in holiday land and having to paste on a smile every morning! We know that the staff’s smiles are pasted on, BTW, because when the Holy Spirit shows up, they cry all over the place. We are so blessed that He wants to come with us. We don’t even want to try to go anywhere without Him. Neither of us would cope!

The Holy Spirit coming with us actually stops us from fighting— whoops, sorry — disagreeing loudly …  That’s a  huge plus! Why is it when holidays happen people get a bit tetchy? It must be all that extra work we have to do, so we can get away to have fun and a rest. Oxymoron anyone? Maybe all that effort to relax makes human beings even more cranky. You’d think the very word holiday would do the trick, but sometimes it’s so much work to relax, it becomes very stressful! 

Plus there is the responsibility to make the holiday fun for everyone else. The plan-ner has to provide suitable entertainment for the other passengers on this happy jaunt to places unknown. I seem to recall when my kids were teenagers, that it didn’t matter what you planned, somebody would moan about it not suiting them! There are days when you can almost hear people on holidays saying through gritted teeth to each other: “Are we having fun yet?”

I’ve watched people work so hard to make their holiday fun – that they actually worked all the fun out of it, by over-planning every single thing for every day they were away! I don’t have a solution to this first-world problem, except I think that perhaps we might need to stop and count some blessings along the way. BTW, FYI, even the Lord Himself rested  – check out Genesis 2.

Meanwhile … we are off  🚘… and I’ll see you same bat-time, same bat-channel tomorrow! Just watch for the sign in the sky OK? Toodle-oo. Obviously – I’m bat girl, there’s no WAY I’m fitting into cat woman’s suit! 👋

P 2785 “To each one of us …”

/ DVH

In the bible it says that the Lord Himself gave gifts to the church … read these scriptures along with me: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people… …” 11-13 “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7-8,11-13. We don’t have to wait for our birthday, or Christmas! Jesus has given us all gifts to help us grow and know Him…NOW!

“There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all.”1 Corinthians 12:4-7.

“If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other. 

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable.” Romans 12:7-17.

Today, I want to say, loudly – that, despite how you might feel, you have a gift. Actually you could easily have more than one of them!! But don’t ask me what they are, it took me a while to figure out what I am here to do! This Grace the Lord has given me to help others, has also helped me to feel that I have a place within the Body of Christ.

Many Christians have excused themselves from being activated for His kingdom, on the grounds that they are not worthy, or clever enough, or gifted enough, or they don’t know what they are supposed to do, or they don’t have time and they hope that the Lord understands! However, we all need your contribution. You don’t have to be an evangelist standing on the back of a flat-bed truck, you simply need to live a life of Love everywhere you go, towards everyone you meet, and be prepared to give an account of the hope within you.  That will stretch everyone’s faith and your gift will rise up as a result.

The thing is, this New Covenant we share is an agreement between us and the Lord – it’s a promise that we enter into between Him and us, and it is binding. (Read the book!) Jesus covered our sins with His blood, so we can be free to live the life God planned for us to live … and it is never too late to start. Jesus deliberately provided us with SomeOne Who will always help us and never leave us. SomeOne Who will teach us His ways, and help us with the process of transformation. It’s the Holy Spirit.

One day, not long ago, I woke up and realised that my complete spiritual poverty,  is my strength.🤔 So today, the Lord asked me to remind you of your place in His Body by using His Word. The Holy Spirit wants you to know that there is a place in His plans for you. Sometimes, for a small group of people, that is a place that is seen, and for many, many, many others, they will remain unseen. But He has promised to touch us all in extraordinary ways, with supernatural gifts.. I look forward to the day when the vast, unseen multitudes of ordinary Christians step into what He has for them.

So today, I just want to encourage everybody reading this, He wants you to participate in His plan in the lives of those people you know and influence. He needs you to be you. Who you are, because of His Presence in your life, will reach others. Last of all, I want to use my favourite vehicle, the bible, to pray for you. I am totally convinced He will answer these prayers because they rely upon His faithfulness, not on anyone’s ability.  

“I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Philippians 1:6 TPT. “And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.” Ephesians 3:16 TPT.“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24. Amen. God gives gifts to each one of us. Bye. 👋

P 2702 Christians are no fun …

/ DVH

…and we should be! …  Proverbs 17:22: “A joyful cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul…“I’m not talking about frivolity or carelessness with our faith, but honestly … sometimes we can be no fun at all, and at other times we are just plain too earnest. I know this is obvious so please pardon me for saying it, again! … but as Christians we should be the happiest people on earth! We are not meant to be the fun police, because we have the joy of the Lord as our strength! When I look at church people sometimes I think boy do we all need to do some joy/strength training! When was the last time you had a good falling-on-the-floor-belly-laugh? 

No, I have not suddenly lost my mind – I can prove it.  I can still spell antidisestablishmentarianism backwards, so yup! … my mind is still working. OK! OK! I actually can’t spell that stupid word backwards but I know someone who can … does that count? We can all do with a large case of the sillies. As Christians we are meant to be the most optimistic people on the planet! We know the Saviour, personally, and whether you or I woke up with more pain than we care to admit, or our spouse was even more grumpy than usual – we have His joy inside us. Guess what? HE’S NOT SAD like … EVER. He won! We are now on the winning side.

We went away for a little holiday recently and we took bubble guns with us. That’s bubble guns not bubble gum OK? Bubble gum is nasty stuff, you can’t get it out of your hair! Have you ever had a bubble duel? I mean right in your face, loads of bubbles everywhere — hundreds of them? I double-dare anyone not to laugh at so many bubbles you can’t count them. Do you know how much it cost us to have a bubble duel? We got change from $15. Priceless. Look let’s get rid of our serious dignified faces and have fun. Remember fun? Last week part of our family stood on our balcony and watched bubbles go everywhere, and the next day – we did it again and we fell about laughing again.

It is my 97 year old mother’s birthday today. We took balloons and presents and … bubbles to her party. There they were, the oldies in the old folk’s home, lined up like life was already over, and we brought out the bubble guns and fired away. Bubbles everywhere. We took a fantastic photo of my mum looking like Popeye with one eye shut and bubbles all over her – but I can’t put it here because she just might kill me. She doesn’t read my blog, but she’s my mum – she will know!!  Mothers always do.

All those old people, who had been plopped in front of the TV for the day, plus the staff came clustering around her chair and us, and we gave away chocolates. Everyone was smiling. Some came out of their rooms and joined in. I imagine most days are pretty much the same in the old folk’s home. Well yesterday wasn’t. Our mob arrived and took over. I have never been more proud of our family. 

All my life I have done my best to do the right thing – so I wouldn’t get into trouble. Hah! Now I give my Mum cheek all the time, and she can’t do anything about it! She’s stuck in a wheel chair from old age, and she can’t run after me anymore. Talk about healing!! 😂  Do you know the really interesting bit? She laughs her head off now, instead of getting furious with me. Sometimes we can be restrained by our own inner caveats. If you get whacked round the ear-hole enough times you learn “don’t do that,” and something inside gets stuck and you leave important parts of your self behind. 

Hubby contributes to our hilarity all the time. He tells blooming terrible awful Dad jokes. Man those jokes are on the nose. They are corny and not funny but everyone groans, and … then they laugh, but sometimes that comes out as a large sigh. You know Jesus never once said: “Go and preach the gospel, but don’t you have any fun doing it!” We treat this world like it is hostile to the gospel and His love. I’ve been out there – it isn’t! Most people aren’t anti-God, they just haven’t met Him yet! Maybe we have failed Him as His representatives by walking about with serious faces and the idea that what we believe is made of glass. Love may be patient and kind, etc etc. but it can also be FUN. Remember fun? Remember when you favourite thought wasn’t watching TV, or playing video games? Live like that.

Everywhere we go, we have been commissioned to take LOVE with us. And let’s remember that Jesus Himself is JOY personified – so, as His family we will represent Him badly if we have no joy. It’s time to show the world that loving God is the most fun thing ever. Christians should be lots of fun … not black holes of disapproval. Of all the people on this earth, we are the ones who don’t have to be plastic. We can be ourselves and we can be fun! 🤪 👋

P 2472 Something incredible happened … because of the wonderful goodness of God.

/ DVH

And because of one particular event, Father God has decreed that His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. These things are following us, because God loves all His kids – even the ones who don’t care to know Him! We don’t know the actual date of Jesus Christ’s birth. However, this world has many references to Christ’s Presence, in historical works, apart from the bible itself. He was in fact, a Jewish man, who lived a mostly hidden nondescript life … until He was 30. 

Please note:  Jesus did not have blue eyes and long brown/blonde hair. He was not Caucasian, and I’m pretty sure He did not walk around in some sort of light blue and white oversized nightie! He wore what the men of his time wore. After all, He was born Jewish, so Jesus Christ looked just like all the other Jewish men around Him. Oh, and there was no halo around His head either. We also know He had a beard because the report about His crucifixion says His tormentors pulled that out, bit by bit. His eyes were probably deep dark brown, and personally, I think they were incredibly kind. 

One day, after about 30 years, Jesus Christ’s life exploded into public view. I guess His Heavenly Father, God said: “It’s time.” And so Jesus went to be baptised by his cousin John, to fulfil what was asked of Him. Meanwhile, John the Baptist had a recognised ministry. His job was to tell people they were not right with God, and needed to be baptised and repent from living the way they were living. Which is actually a pretty relevant point to think on even today!!

So why does there seem to be all this fuss about an infant at Christmas? After all  — He’s not an infant anymore! He’s the King of all Kings and Lord of Lords and you would definitely know that in His Presence! Even evil people or self-important people crumble into a foetal position. He is no longer a baby in a barn. Jesus is not just the ‘reason for the season” … He is the reason this life is worth living, for those who follow Him. People all over this world acknowledge His birth for a number of reasons…  but why do we celebrate the birthday of an infant born in a country so far away from most of us? 

I think that Christmas, as we know it today, has been overtaken by commercialism, which is a natty reason to make more money.  Plus we now have Santa Claus… or whatever you happen to call him, wherever you live. A big, jolly, red distraction. I’m of the opinion that poor old Saint Nicholas is probably rolling over in his grave with what we have done with his loving gesture toward the children of the poor! He was following Christ in His own way, but we have managed to transform His selfless deeds into yet another shopping experience. Sigh.

Here are some reasons that I thought some people might have to continue to celebrate Christmas. Is it an opportunity for your family and mine to get together, and pretend they all like each other? … (but in reality we chew our nails down to the quick hoping no-one will say something abrasive or provocative!) Is it a time to decorate the house within an inch of it’s life? Maybe it is an opportunity in an incredibly busy year, to give a brief thought to what we hope we believe … and then go camping with other families in the bush or by the sea. In other words do we have Christmas for Jesus Christ or for us? It is, after all, HIS BIRTHDAY!!

The thing about Christmas, is that it has gone from celebrating Christ, to being a whole lot of things it wasn’t designed to be. That’s why I think this season hardly ever works out the way we all hope it will. Christmas today nearly sends nice people into bankruptcy, because they can’t afford to buy what their kids want, or what the little darlings think they deserve. And the overworked parents feel guilty if they can’t cough up. It’s become a time when we have to be nice to rellies that we hope will magically disappear from our sight … until next year. If that’s bit close to the bone, maybe you need to think about why you celebrate Christmas.

What does Christmas mean to you? Who do you think Christ is? Is He just a baby Who lived once long long long ago, and did extremely kind things for people and then He died? Do you actually celebrate Him? You take a holiday, and time off work, in His Name … but do you know the One Whose birthday you are celebrating?

I think if we limit ourselves to just looking at a manger with a newly born infant in it, then we have done what we always do. We’ve limited Almighty God again, because we don’t understand Him or His Ways – or don’t care to! Plus we are overlooking the goodness of God toward ALL men. That’s right, nobody has been left out. Everyone. And I don’t care what you’ve done…. neither does He. 

We owe a debt, Jesus Christ paid it for us. What are you planning to do with the gift of time, that He gave you? Spend it wisely, my friend. Merry Christmas. 🎁 👋🏻