Why We Worship 15

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

When we were young we looked up to our parents, they were the ones who knew us, they were the ones who looked after us, they were the ones who cared about us, they were the ones who had brought us into this world.

So it should be with God, we should look up to Him and worship Him because He is our Creator and who could know or understand us better than He.

But not only is He our creator but He is the creator of the world and all that is in it.

This is something that is hard for us to fathom because as human beings we cannot fully understand how anyone could create everything.

But we are not meant to understand everything because we are not like God, we are simply asked to believe that

 

                  

 

God is who He says He is,

Are you worshipping your Creator today?

Are you worshipping your Creator today?

4 Accidents and a ...... (pt2) - A Dose of Encouragement

It all happened in July 1983 

    when our son Jonathan was 

               only 10 months old.  

He had fallen asleep in his car seat in the back of the car, I had fallen asleep in the front passenger seat, and then Fred fell asleep at the wheel.
  

We were on the motorway on the way home from Belfast and of course Fred was not supposed to be asleep.  

We all woke up when we collided with a mini bus in front.  

Not a scratch on any one of us, not a scratch on any of the teenagers in the mini bus, not much of a scratch on the mini bus, but our car was a right off.  

You see we had only slightly hit the mini bus but that had sent the car out of control and we banged into, and scraped along, the security barrier at the centre of the motorway and then swerved over and scraped along the barrier at the side of the motorway.

Regardless of all that impact on the car we were kept from harm 
by our Father God.

          The driver of the minibus was a policeman and would not let us leave the scene until we could show proof of our insurance.  A police car arrived and we were then entertained by the policemen allowing Jonathan to press buttons in the car to set off the lights and siren.  

After about an hour my parents managed to get into our house 50 miles away, find our car insurance policy and get it to the police station in Londonderry.  We were then taken by police car to the station in Antrim and spent another hour there waiting for my parents to arrive to take us home. 

          My father was never particularly keen on driving very long distances so as soon as he walked into the police station he handed his car keys over to Fred and told him to drive us all home.  

I couldn’t believe it, there was my father a very cautious driver and a very particular man telling someone who had just had an accident, to drive his car home.  This is the same man who washed his car every week and would have known any little mark that was on it, and he calmly handed over his keys to someone who had just wrecked their own car.  When I asked him about it he just said he trusted Fred to drive us home he said Fred wasn't going to fall asleep again.

I am so thankful that God is just like that.

No matter what silly thing we do he is ready to give us that second chance, provided we are ready to admit we were wrong and look to Him instead of ourselves.

Can you believe that God will be like that with you?

Click Here for Part 1

Click Here for Part 3

Why We Worship 14

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

We have already looked at the 
omnipresence of God and the omniscience of God 
so today I wanted to consider the 

Omnipotence of God

   This simply means that God is 

All-powerful

 God has all power.  

             No one or no thing has more power than God.

                          He is so powerful He created everything out of nothing.

                                       God has power over everything, all of the people and all of creation.

Not only does verse 5 of Psalm 147 speak of how powerful God is but the whole Psalm is centred around this telling us of His power to 

water the earth v. 8,  send the wind v. 18,  bring peace v. 14,  etc.

Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
6 The Lord lifts up the humble;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
    make melody to our God on the lyre!
8 He covers the heavens with clouds;
    he prepares rain for the earth;
    he makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He gives to the beasts their food,
    and to the young ravens that cry.
10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
    Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
    he blesses your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders;
    he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends out his command to the earth;
    his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
    he scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
    who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
    he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
    his statutes and rules to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
    they do not know his rules.
Praise the Lord!

So if God is for us who can possibly stand against us

I am thankful that God has all power on Earth and in Heaven, everywhere.

4 Accidents and a ..... (pt1) - A Dose of Encouragement

Fred and I started going together 

            ..... when we were 16.

We went to different schools;  his an all boys Grammar School and mine an all girls Grammar School.  The two schools were located quite close together but not a lot of contact was made between the two (professionally).

However that year both schools offered their A level Mathematics students the opportunity to do a computer course at the City's Technical College each Tuesday afternoon and both of us took up the offer.

That meant we were able to see each other at the course and also to spend some time together after it.

Now Fred got a motorbike as soon as he was old enough and he started using it to go back and forward to school each day so he took me home on it after school.

My school uniform included a blue pleated skirt in which I could do a beautiful twirl and have the skirt fan out but as cute as that might have been (not true really) it was not the most suitable attire for riding on the back of a motorbike.

 Okay the obvious thing was to change into a pair of trousers on leaving school so that I could ride on the bike.

                                           No way was that allowed.  

Our school had a strict rule that when seen anywhere out of school we must be wearing the FULL school uniform and not just part and of course to go to the Tech we had to be in uniform as it was still part of the school day.

           Yes and full school uniform also meant a grey beret!!!

So for a few days I had been on the bike in my skirt trying to keep it tucked in around me and not bellowing up in the air, but having got fed up with that I decided that I would put on a pair of trousers over my skirt to travel to the Tech and home afterwards on the Tuesday.

During the computer course each week we had a mid afternoon break and this Tuesday Fred wanted to go back up to his school to get something so we hopped on the bike and started off towards the school going along one of the main streets of the city.  There were cars parked on each side of the road and suddenly I could see a car pulling out from a street on the right.  There was no time to stop and the car was into us just at the right of the front wheel of the bike.


I was thrown off the bike and landed hitting my head on the ground, thankfully Fred had been able to slow down so it was not a very forceful knock but I was still thankful for the helmet I had been wearing.

The driver of the car had just simply not noticed us coming (as still is so common with motorbikes) but as he was an older man and we were just students he did try to put the blame on us and then came out with the comment

                     "Just as well you were wearing that helmet girl"

No it was not

        Just as well I was wearing that helmet 

it was really

I was obeying the rules of the road (wearing a helmet) and he wasn't (when he pulled out when it was not safe to do so).

After sorting out about the accident and knowing that we were both ok we got back on the bike and went on with our afternoon.

We thanked God that He had protected us that day and even though we had had an accident no one was hurt and very little damage had been done.

It is so good to know that wherever we are and whatever we are doing God is with us and knows what lies ahead.  

However one thing was going round in my mind

Can you just imagine what I would have looked like if I had been wearing that school skirt?

So not only did I thank God for his protection in the accident
        but also for the fact that it had not happened on one of the previous days when I would have been wearing that skirt.


I believe that God cares about little details and he cared about what I would be wearing that day.

Do you believe he cares about the details of your life each day?




Click Here for part 2 in "4 Accidents and a ....."

The Secret Adversary - Book Review

Note:
I did not receive a free book or any payment for this 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.

If you want further info on this book please click on the Title or picture of the book.



The Secret Adversary 

by

Agatha Christie

Shelfari Description

Tommy and Tuppence, two young people short of money and restless for excitement, embark on a daring business scheme, Young Adventurers Ltd. Their advertisement says they are 'willing to do anything, go anywhere'. But their first assignment, for the sinister Mr Whittington, plunges them into more danger than they ever imagined.

My Thoughts

This is the second book Agatha Christie had published and is so remarkably different from her first which featured Poirot.  Just as you fall in love with the precise Belgian detective who has experience in this field, we also fall in love with the two inexperienced "detectives" here.

It is the way Christie writes the characters of these two sleuths that make this such an enjoyable read.  You are with them all the way as they have clever thoughts and make stupid mistakes but then isn't that what would happen if we ordinary people decided on a whim to go into this type of business?  Of course they do have help from a few other sources and then there are the notable "baddies" as befitting the time setting of this story.  

I had read this many years ago but got caught out on who was the elusive Mr Brown and I think that this is also an indication of her good writing that I was not going on what I may have remembered from the previous reading but was going by what I was reading this time.

I am looking forward to reading the next Tommy and Tuppence Adventure and I do think that the title Young  Adventurers was the correct one for the author to chose for this couple as they should never be compared to the detective she had already created; just enjoyed for the characters they are.

Below is a link to a list of her novels on Shelfari
Books by Agatha Christie

Below is a link to her books on Amazon
Amazon's Agatha Christie Books

Below is a link to her page on Amazon
Amazon's Agatha Christie Page




Note:
If buying through Amazon via the links above I do not get any commission - I am NOT an Amazon affiliate.

Why We Worship 13

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

We have already looked at the omnipresence of God so today I wanted to consider the 

Omniscience of God

                This simply means that God is 

All-knowing

 This includes the past, the present, and the future, and everything within these times.

 It includes what has actually happened and will actually happen but it also includes what could have happened and what could happen in the future depending on how we exercise our free will.

                       So he knows what will happen and he knows what "could" happen.

There was never a time when God did not know everything and there never will be a time when God does not know everything.

Does this not give us a great security because we have a God who knows all things about us, about everyone else and about the universe.

Read through 1 John chapter 3 yourself to get the right context for this verse.

1 John chapter 3 is written by John to people he refers to as:

• Children of God  v. 1 & 2
• Little children  v. 7
• My brethren  v. 13
• My little children  v. 18
• Beloved  v. 21

He is writing to people who are saved but perhaps have not had enough time or opportunity to have learnt many things about their heavenly Father.
Throughout the chapter he is assuring them that they are in God's family and are loved by himself and God.
Nowhere is he trying to scare them with the thought that God knows all things and will hold anything against them.
He is in fact stating that God knows all things so even when they do not think they are good enough God knows their salvation and the truth they are standing on.

How could He not be the rock for us to hold on to.

Do you agree?