Sunday

Pondering The Psalms - Psalm 27



Each Sunday I choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 27 


This is one of the Psalms of David.





This Psalm falls into five parts:

V. 1
Declaration

V. 2-3
Confidence

V. 4-6
Praise

V. 7-12
Teaching

V. 13-14
Hope


Declaration.
We need to physically say these words.
We need to speak forth the truth, to truly grasp that we need not be afraid
       
                        He is our Light

                              and
                                        He is our Salvation 

                                              and
                                                        He is our Stronghold


Confidence.
The speaking out as in the last two verses and the knowledge that there is no need to be afraid leads on to being confident about what we know God has promised  -  this makes me think of Psalm 34 
He has promised that He is on our side.







Praise.
The result of seeking God, wanting to live in His ways and being in His Shelter can only lead to us giving Him all the praise and thanksgiving we can.


Declaration, Confidence, Praise, Teaching, Hope.


Teaching.
Crying out to God, seeking His face and accepting His gracious help leads us to listen and pay attention to Him to learn what is the good and acceptable will of God   (Romans 12:2)
All because we are not leaning to the way of others or to our natural instincts but we are being focused on His way.


Hope.
Knowing God's promises, having gained confidence in knowing God's will and His way and being prepared to wait on Him has all come to the point where we know we have hope for now and for the future.







A Lighthouse and a Lifeboat

illustrations

of 

His Love stretched out to us.

















Saturday

Christian Songs for Kids - Rolled Away

Do you find it hard to get visuals and recordings for different kids songs?


Each month I am going to share 
one or two songs with you providing  

Visuals 
(Powerpoint or Picture or details of how you can make one) 

Words   
(chords also available)

Recording  
(mp3 or video to learn the song) 


Then if you would like to download the visual of the song there will be a link provided to my creation, or I will direct you to where else you can find it.   




Also don't forget you can go to the top of this post or to the sidebar on the right and sign up for an email reminder of my posts. 

Then you will know when the next song is posted.


This month I am taking the theme of


Forgiveness of Sins



The song I have chosen is 



Rolled Away

This is one of the most enjoyable choruses for the kids to interact in as they love to do the actions and sing it faster each time trying to keep up with the actions and not get mixed up.

When they are enjoying it they are still picking up the concept behind it and it is also the type of tune that just sticks in their heads.

I have been using this song for over 30 years and all the children over all those years have had fun with this song.





POWERPOINT

More recently I made slides and pictures to print out for this song














Here is a powerpoint show with music from Hebron Outreach so have a look at it and if you go to their website you can copy it freely.







WORDS

Rolled Away, 
Rolled Away, Rolled Away, 
And the Burden of my heart Rolled Away, 
Rolled Away, Rolled Away, Rolled Away, 
And the Burden of my heart Rolled Away, 
Every sin had to go
'Neath the cleansing flow, Hallelujah
Rolled Away, Rolled Away, Rolled Away, 
And the Burden of my heart Rolled Away.


To get a copy of the words and the chords 
CLICK HERE






ACTIONS

Rolled away   -  roll your hands around each other and flick them over your shoulder  x3
And the burden  -  rest both hands on your shoulder
Of my heart  -  move both hands to your heart
Rolled away  -  roll your hands around each other and flick them over your shoulder
Every sin had to go   -  repeated flicking of hands over shoulder
Neath the cleansing flow  -  raise hands and ripple fingers as you bring your hands down in front of you
Hallelujah  -  nothing
Rolled away   -  roll your hands around each other and flick them over your shoulder  x3
And the burden  -  rest both hands on your shoulder
Of my heart  -  move both hands to your heart
Rolled away  -  roll your hands around each other and flick them over your shoulder








Notes:
I cannot find any information on the author or the copyright for this song.
I have read online that the arrangement of the song is credited to R.R. Brown
If anyone can help me with this information please leave a comment below or contact me by email which you will find on my About Me Page





Tuesday

The Sittaford Mystery - Book Review


I am reading through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and writing a review on each one.








The Sittaford Mystery. 


1931  



Description


In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a small round table foe a seance.

Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message:
Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? 

The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. 
Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snow drifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot...

         'Captain Trevelyan...dead...murder'









My Thoughts

This is the 14th book by Agatha Christie and the First to be what I would describe as a stand alone murder mystery.  

It features none of Miss Christie's previous detectives or sleuths and none of the characters in this book are found in any of the later books she wrote.
This story is based in the countryside and in the depth of winter making travelling difficult and that is essential to the whole book.

There are a small cast of neighbours but of course our writer is not confined to just these few to weave her story but also takes us far away to see that others may have had some influence in it all.


I really enjoyed this story and do believe that this title is the better title for the book than the American one of "Murder at Hazelmoor".    Yes the story is of a murder but definitely in this Christie novel it is the mystery that we need to solve.



Of course a detective/policeman is needed to solve the case but even that is not exactly as it seems at first and in my eyes this is another good example of the Christie use of Red Herrings.
A good read and a simple solution but just not simple until explained.








 Here is a link to a list of her novels on Amazon
Books by Agatha Christie




Sunday

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 136


Each Sunday I choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 136 





This Psalm falls into 5 parts:



V. 1-3
God


V. 4-9
Creation


V. 10-22
Redemption


V. 23-25
Love


V. 26
Hope


This Psalm starts and ends with two almost identical verses - verse 1 and verse 26


However they are each placed specifically at those important points.


We Start with God's Goodness



God.
He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords.
 He is Good, He is Merciful and He is Love and His goodness, mercy and love will never end.
 How could we not be thankful?





Creation.
He is full of wonder and creative power.
All that is on, above and around the earth was made by Him.


Redemption.
He provided our Salvation right from the start.
Our lives should be a witness to that.


Love.
He is the one who always sees, cares, and acts on behalf of His people.


Hope.
Even though we have not seen Heaven or can properly understand Heaven we believe in God so we believe in Heaven because we know His love is not going to end.









The Psalm is a portrait of our lives with Him.

 How He is good to us and draws us 
through our knowledge of 
His Greatness, Salvation and Love 
to the culmination of a 
Home 
perfectly prepared for us by Him.



We end with Heaven.








This is a Psalm which some might say is simply repetitive.

But

this is really a Psalm of recognition on our part of how worthy God is to be praised 
over and over again.


This is a Psalm which uses the history of the world to highlight the Love of God
to His people

and

to lead us to 

the Eternal Hope we have in Heaven - our home with Him! 













Friday

A Simple Little Heart Recycle



Preparations coming up to Christmas and having family here over Christmas doesn't leave a lot of time to declutter or tackle any jobs I might have on my list but even getting a little thing done is helpful.






As I was sorting out some of the many things that had accumulated around my desk (which I have been gradually working on for ages) I came across two hearts.

They were from our niece Joanne's Wedding over 2 years ago and had been our place names at the wedding reception.






I like black and white and was sure that I could find some way of using them on a project so had kept them, but up to now I had not thought of how to use them.


Then now after two years I see them and suddenly have an idea.



If you have read previous blog posts of mine about my study and about things I love then you will know that I really do love hearts and have quite a few hearts around the study and the house.


In fact on the bathroom door and the back toilet door I have hearts to show what the room is






I had got these on ebay and loved them so I also later contacted the lady selling them to see if she had ones with study and office on them but she didn't.


Well I know that these hearts are not the same but I just thought I would use them anyway and all I needed was some blu tac and a pair of scissors.


I snipped off the long parts of the black ribbon just leaving the little bows on each heart, then stuck them to the doors with some blu tac.






I didn't add the words study or office because I would not be able to match the special calligraphy already on them but the names would do just fine as the study is mine and the office is Fred's.


Heart to Heart - table to door - a simple recycle.



How simple a recycle was that?


Can you find something that could be as simple a project as this?







Well now to look at the final results of work for this.

Very easy and took little time and of course I like the end result so more like FUNWORK than HOUSEWORK










Wednesday

How We Personalized Christmas - A Dose of Encouragement


In the past we have often given someone a personalised present at Christmas or we have got personalised tree decorations for our kids


BUT  this year


we personalised Christmas quite a bit.





To start with it was our grandson Matthew's first Christmas and although he didn't know what was going on ( not even 8 weeks old by Christmas) we were all thinking about him and we started off by receiving gifts from others mentioning


"Baby's First Christmas"


Then we were at it ourselves because I bought a star tree decoration handmade about Matthew for our tree and then got one identical for Daniel & Suzie's tree.






But Fred was the one who thought of the idea that included everyone.


Now I'm the one who loves mugs and I always find myself glancing over the array of mugs in any place I see them just in case I will see a nice one (should be a bargain of course) or see one that makes me think of someone in particular and I know it will be a nice gift for them.


But Fred was the one who had the idea about the personalized mugs!


So he designed them for each of the family





The mugs for the proud grandparents.






The mugs for the proud aunt and uncle.






The mugs for the proud parents.







Then a mug for each of my 4 Black Boys.



And that is how we personalised Christmas this year.


So often we go through Christmas time in a blur of shopping, cooking, giving gifts, visiting and eating together but do we make sure that the time is really personalised?


We can personalise Christmas time in two ways and neither of them has anything to do with our names on mugs or anywhere else.


We can personalise Christmas Time in 2 ways.



We can personalise it by putting our mark on Christmas.

Yes we need time to shop for gifts and food, cook for the family and friends, give and receive gifts, visit and have meals together but we can also make time to engage with others on a good one to one basis and not just the hurried "Merry Christmas" and "hug".

We can think about little things that will make the time a happier memory for others or a time when they know someone cared enough to talk and listen to them and share a laugh or two.

I can think of a great example that happens each year in the Coffee Shop that our son Daniel manages in Belfast.  On Christmas Day anyone and everyone who may be on their own over Christmas are invited to come to Common Grounds and share in a Freshly Cooked full Christmas Dinner.






Volunteers flock to help and others are eager to donate food or money to provide a special meal and afternoon for anyone who drops in.
This year over 110 people were served and not only they, but also the volunteers were blessed in their time together.



We can personalise it by putting Christ's mark on Christmas.

Yes again we need to do all the practical things and a lot of what is involved now at Christmas time is centred around things rather than the person who is the reason we celebrate Christmas.




We need to make Jesus the Centre of Christmas and the Reason for Christmas.


One thing I insist on each year is that the Christmas cards we send out will always be focusing on Jesus and not referring to Christmas as a season.
  

Here are a few of my favourites  









And one we sent the kids in our Sunday School - deliberately picked to remind the children of the puppet show we had in church that year on the nativity and the fun time they had with the camel puppet.






Even this year when we sent out fewer cards and then sent an email greeting to link to a family letter on this blog we still wanted to express our thankfulness to God for sending the Saviour of the world and chose this picture for our Christmas greeting, keeping Christ at the centre.




We often hear things like:

“if you had been the only person on earth Jesus would have still died for you”

But we are not the only ones so we have a responsibility to put Christ's mark on each Christmas we celebrate here on earth to share Jesus with others and not remove Him from it.







We need to remember "Our mark & His mark".


I generally like to buy my Christmas Cards really early (as in the January sales!) so I am looking again now for a card with a fully Jesus centred theme to make sure I personalise Christmas for Christ.